Source: 10 Ways Community Members Can Engage with Law Enforcement
Spring Crime Prevention Tips from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
The following is a community alert the Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff’s Office sent to their residents using tip411 to share crime prevention tips for Spring:
“Just some friendly reminders since we just hopped into Spring. The weather is beautiful outside and there will be some spring cleaning going on inside homes as well as yard work outside in preparation for the upcoming warmer months.
- Ensure doors and windows are locked at your home. This includes even if you are only leaving for a short period of time.
- Ensure all of your gardening tools are secured in your garage or storage shed with adequate locking mechanisms. Don’t leave your garage open when you are working outside in the backyard out of sight of your garage. Criminals look for opportunities such as open garages.
- Do not leave your garage door open to vent the heat out, even if it is just a few inches. Criminals can and will slide underneath. They may even use a child to slide underneath and open the door for them.
- Always secure bicycles out of sight and in a secure location.
- Ensure that you have a secure door between you and possible solicitors. Always keep your screen door locked and if you do answer the door, then you have a secondary barrier between. Criminals take opportunities with unsecured screen doors and make their way inside.”
Police department rolls out new tip alert system
The police department and Mayor Stephen Zanni are launching a new tip alert system to help improve public safety in the city.
The system, tip411, is an interactive way to keep the community connected and informed through email, text message and online public safety alerts. It will also allow the public to report crimes and other suspicious activity directly to police by sending anonymous text messages or submitting tips online or through the Methuen Police Department app.
“In a society where technology and media are so prominent in all aspects of our lives, we believe this new app will only help to increase our connection with our community members,” Chief Joseph Solomon said. “We have worked hard to notify, educate and respond to our citizens in all regards, and tip411 is another resource that helps facilitate this process.”
To use the system, residents can register to receive alerts from the police department via email or text message by signing up online. Or, they can download the Methuen Police Department app. It is through this app, developed by tip411, that residents can share anonymous tips with police and officers and respond back.
Walker County tip411 Launch Press Conference
With several of our customers currently attending the CADCA National Conference in Washington, D.C., we wanted to share this video from February of 2016 when the Walker County Sheriff’s Office launched tip411 with their District Attorney and Walker County Community in Action in a successful joint press conference.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPymKrUXU0g]
Drawbacks to Social Media Data Mining for Police
Many agencies have begun using, or are considering purchasing, social media monitoring tools to mine Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms for crime-related information.
Recently, however, Twitter announced that it was pulling data access for police surveillance tools, and other companies are expected to follow suit.
Our products, specifically the tip411 two way anonymous tip chat solution, can provide a way to gather direct intelligence from citizens (without companies like Twitter and Facebook) determining what data is available to you.
Social media monitoring tools are an excellent resource for investigations and intelligence gathering, but may be increasingly limited over time.
We recently heard from a large department in California who reached out and thanked us for letting them know about this as they were very close to purchasing one of these expensive monitoring tools because they thought they needed it.
We would appreciate the opportunity to share how introducing tip411 into your community can help create direct engagement, without the use of such expensive and limited tools.
There are currently law enforcement agencies in more than 40 states and 1,4000 communities using tip411, and we hope you’ll contact us to request more information or to schedule a brief demo.