McFarland Police Department Send Anonymous Tips
drivi86 In The News

McFarland Police roll out tip411 program

Local residents who want to supply a tip to the McFarland Police Department have another option for doing so as the TIP411 system launched June 3.

McFarland Police Chief Craig Sherven said the program provides another avenue for people to provide information. During the last few years, the department has seen people moving away from traditional means of providing law enforcement with tips, such as phone calls, and preferring to use social media including Facebook.

“The problem with that is that we aren’t always monitoring Facebook, and sometimes miss out on this type of information. TIP411 alerts staff anytime new information is posted,” Sherven said.

The program is meant to be used as a quick, real time way of anonymously offering tip information to the police that does not need to have an immediate response from an officer, the chief said.

There are three ways for people to submit information to TIP411 – text message, a link on the McFarland Police Department’s website, and a smartphone app developed specifically for the local police. Sherven said police staff are alerted to the tip through a variety of ways.

To text a tip to the department using text, send the keyword MCFPD and the information to 847477. The app can be downloaded onto an Android or iPhone by searching McFarland PD in the app store. The direct link is www.tip411.com/tips/new?alert_group_id=21964.

Sherven stressed the system is not a means to report an incident in progress and needing immediate assistance or filing a police report.

The police chief said while TIP411 is intended for people to provide anonymous information to local law enforcement, people who have downloaded the app are also able to receive information pushed out from the McFarland Police Department.

More information on the program can be found online at www.mcfarland.wi.us/police.

“My hope is that the addition of this service will promote good communications and information sharing between us and the public,” Sherven said. “Like any other kind of service industry, we need to adapt to technology in order to effectively serve the public.”

Read the story from HNGNews.com

Ashland City police cruiser
drivi86 In The News

Crime reporting app Tip411 coming soon to Ashland City

Ashland City residents will soon be able to submit anonymous tips and receive communications from the local police department using an app.

The Ashland City Council approved the Tip411 contract at its meeting Tuesday, locking in a three-year contract at $4,800, covered in the police department’s budget, Chief Marc Coulon said at the meeting.

Tip411 is used in more than 1,400 communities nationwide, according to the web-based tool’s website. That includes local, county, state and federal agencies, and even schools.

Tip411 “helps agencies engage community members of all ages by enabling anyone with a cell phone to submit tips via a smartphone app or text anonymous tips that can be responded to in real time by authorized personnel in the agency or organization,” it states.

Coulon said even Cheatham County residents outside of Ashland City can use the app to send tips to the Ashland City Police Department anonymously, and the department can relay those tips to the appropriate jurisdiction.

Citizens can also include image and video files to their web, text message or app tips to provide more specific information to Ashland City police, according to Tip411’s scope of services. The department will follow up on tips and will be able to respond to the anonymous tipster, archiving conversations.

Tip411 will assist the department in adding “submit a tip” and “sign up for alerts” buttons on the department’s website and social media pages, among other things.

Ashland City police can also send notifications — including maps, images, links, case information, suspect or missing person information and more — to users. Those alerts can also be posted to the department’s social media accounts.

Deputies will be able to log into Tip411 from anywhere with internet access on any device.

Coulon guessed that the service would be available to the public in about three weeks to a month.

Read the story from the Tennessean.

*This story incorrectly states the contract is for $3,600.

Talk or text to turn in poachers
admin In The News

Talk or text to turn in poachers

Since the passage of Amendment 75, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has made it a priority to increase the amount of enforcement in every county of The Natural State. Each county has at least two officers assigned to patrol its woods and waters, and officers work together to target heavily used areas during certain times of the year. But with all these added men and women, the AGFC has only 180 wildlife officers when at full staff.

With only 180 wildlife officers to cover more than 3.4 million acres of hunting and fishing area in Arkansas, the deck may seem stacked in favor of poachers. Thanks to concerned sportsmen and sportswomen who care about Arkansas’s natural resources, the AGFC continues to make a strong statement to people who try to skirt the law and ignore wildlife regulations.

Anyone who witnesses a wildlife violation is encouraged to call the AGFC via telephone at 800-482-9262 to turn in the violator.

“We make a lot of cases thanks to tips from concerned citizens,” said Major Jason Parker with the AGFC. “Some of the contacts are even made by friends and family members of the people being reported.”

The AGFC’s radio room is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to receive calls about poaching. They can inform a local officer, who will get back in touch with the contact.

“We keep all sources anonymous if they wish, and we do offer rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading the arrest of some violators,” Parker said.

If someone doesn’t want to talk over the phone, they still can report a violation anonymously, using the AGFC’s Text a Tip service. To send the anonymous tip via text message, text “AGFC,” followed by the tip to TIP411 (847411). You will then receive a thank-you text acknowledging that the text has been received. CitizenObserver, the TIP411 provider, uses technology that removes all identifying information before the AGFC receives the text so that the AGFC cannot identify the sender.

Read the story from KAIT-TV

Delhi Township
admin Agency Spotlight

Interview with Delhi Township: Part III

tip411 interviewed Chief Jim Howarth of the Delhi Township Police Department in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the third and final part of our conversation.

PART III

Q: What have you done to promote your tip411 system to make sure residents know about it and use it?
A: We make sure our tip411 information is always posted on all of our social media sites, with links to sign up for alerts and submit tips.

In the beginning, we had business cards made up with tip411 information and officers would hand those out. Officers had them in their car and when they had an interaction with a resident, they’d hand them a card and introduce them to the tip411 program, tell them its free to use to send tips and to sign up for alerts. We still have cards but it was imperative in the beginning.

We really saw a jump with residents buying in to our tip411 efforts when local media starting putting the information on the news. That was as easy as sending out a press release and what’s nice now is they all buy-in to signing up for tip411 and, if they don’t, they know it’s pushed out through Facebook so local reporters are getting our alerts in real-time. They’ll call me right away saying they want to do a story, or sometimes now they won’t even contact me and I’ll see the alert on the news with the surveillance photos we put out. It’s great and helps us reach more residents.

Q: Any advice for other departments considering tip411?
A: Don’t hesitate. My biggest regret is waiting two years before I pulled the trigger to purchase tip411. I felt comfortable coming on board and the rest has been icing on the cake. Now I realize it is what I thought it was.

Any time it can help another agency and talk to them about tip411, I do. It’s not like I’m trying to sell it to them, but when I find a good product for a reasonable amount that helps me do my job better, I like to share that.

My advice is for other departments just to take a look at tip411 because once they do, the product sells itself.

Chief Howarth Interview – Part I

Chief Howarth Interview – Part II