Tye PD launch new anonymous tip app
drivi86 In The News

Tye and Tye PD launch tip411 app for residents

The City of Tye and the Tye Police Department have announced the launch of a new app to help residents connect with the City and the police department.

Citizens will be able to find information, receive important alerts from the City and submit anonymous tips from their smartphones.

The Tye PD app is available for download for free via Google Play Store, the iTunes App Store or by visiting the Tye Police Department website at CityofTye.org/PoliceDept .

“Our mission is to enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Tye by working in partnership with the community.” Chief Jay Strong of the Tye Police Department said. “We believe our new Tye PD app from tip411 will help make it safer and easier for residents to share information with us to increase safety in our community and receive important information from the city.”

The new app allows the public to share anonymous tips with police and lets officers respond back to create an anonymous two-way conversation. Residents can also register to receive important public safety alerts, information about road closures, water leaks, weather and more, via email or text message.

The app and tip411 anonymous text-a-tip system are 100 percent anonymous with technology removing all identifying information before police see the tips, leaving no way to identify the sender.

Residents in Tye without a smartphone can share information with police by sending an anonymous text tip via their cellphone to police by texting keyword TYEPD and their message/tip to 847411 (tip411).

Anonymous web tips can also be submitted through the department’s website at CityofTye.org/PoliceDept

admin In The News

Following overnight shootings, city leaders, law enforcement announce plan to curb downtown violence

Minneapolis city and law enforcement leaders announced plans on Monday to add more police officers and expand the city’s youth intervention program, in an effort to reach the relatively small percentage of young people they say are responsible for the majority of the violence.

The announcement came a few hours after a pair of early-morning shootings Monday in the downtown Minneapolis Warehouse District that police say left six people wounded.

The shootings occurred between about 1:13 and 1:30 a.m., police said.

“Gun violence anywhere in this city is unacceptable and I am sick of it,” Mayor Betsy Hodges said at an afternoon news conference at First Precinct headquarters downtown. She said that if passed, her 2017 budget would increase the department’s authorized strength by 15 officers next year…

… “Investigators believe that both shootings are gang-related,” Michal said. “Officers continue to look at footage from cameras in the area to try to determine who else is involved. They will also be canvassing in the area in the coming days talking with business owners.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to text their tip in to 847411 (TIP411). Enter MPD, a space, and then the information. These text messages are assigned a tip number and the police department has no way of identifying the source of the information. All texts are anonymous. People may also call the MPD TIP Line at 612-692-TIPS (8477).

Read the full story from the Star Tribune.

tip411 Agency Spotlight

tip411 Helps Hazard, KY Solve Cold Case, Fight Drug Crime, and Share City Information

tip411 interviewed Detective Cpt. Paul Campbell of the Hazard Police Department, who is in charge of the department’s use of their tip411 system in Hazard, Kentucky.

Q: Tell us about Hazard and your department.
A: Hazard PD has about 50 employees, sworn and civilian.

Our city fluctuates in population from about 3,500 to nearly 20,000 during daytime hours due to commuters. In the past few years we’ve seen a significant rise in felonies in our area as well as a rise in drug problems (meth, heroin, cocaine, pills, etc.), just like many other cities have seen.

Q: How is the tip411 system used in your city?
A: tip411 is a collaboration between the police department and City Hall, allowing us to send alerts with important city information while also having the ability to let community members submit anonymous tips about crime and other public safety issues.

We receive tips about many subjects, including thefts, prostitution, and suspicious persons, but the overwhelming amount have been drug related.

If I had to compare how many tips we received in the last 5 years before tip411 it would not compare to the amount of tips we’ve received in just the past 4 or 5 months with tip411.

Q: Why do you think that is?
A: Being able to have a place for people to go to and cry for help while feeling safe about it has been a big help. Now they can reach out anonymously without having to block their number, change their voice, etc.

Not every tip has been gold, but 25% have contained good, decent intel that we would not have received without having the service. We’ve benefited big time.

Q: Why tip411?
A: We initially looked at tip411 just because of its anonymous tip feature. At about the same time, City Hall approached me about finding a mass alerting system to inform residents about city issues.

tip411 took care of not only the police department’s needs, but City Hall as well, and helps us to work in collaboration with one another to share alerts about boil water advisories, road closures, utility disruptions, and more.

Q: Anything you would tell other agencies considering tip411?
A: What it comes down to is, “how much are you willing to pay to keep the public happy while helping them feel safe and informed?”

It’s well worth the money and it’s kinda silly not to invest in it. The response we’ve had was been nothing but positive; beyond what we expected and I really don’t think we could go back to the old way of taking tips.

All it takes is that one time, on that one cold case.

One of the tips that came in through tip411 was about a suspect we had been looking into in relation to a double homicide in 2013. He was a suspect in an unrelated robbery, and we put his information out via tip411. We received a tip that helped us locate him and bring him in for questioning. During an interrogation he confessed to his involvement in the 2013 homicide and we were able to solve that cold case.

The system paid for itself right then and there.