York leaders work to prevent crime through texting campaign

City leaders are working together to prevent crime through a campaign called TIP411.

The hope is that it will keep people safe, as well as help police, through texting.

“The campaign seeks to empower our community residents to become more aware and responsive to crime-related issues while being able to report them anonymously,” Mayor Kim Bracey said.

A reminder is posted on billboards and on the sides of RabbitTransit buses. All you have to do is text your tip to 847411.

“This is an opportunity for the city residents to have a bit of an attitude and typically that’s a bad thing, but I think the attitude we need to have is, ‘not on my street, not in my neighborhood, and not in my town’,” RabbitTransit executive director Richard Farr said.

See the video and read the full story on ABC27.com

El Paso Creates Special Tip Keyword During Pope’s Visit to Promote tip411

The Vatican and the Catholic Diocese of El Paso announced that Pope Francis would be visiting Juárez on February 17, 2016.

During the visit, he traveled a route adjacent to the El Paso-Juárez border for a Mass scheduled at the former Juárez fairgrounds.

Due to the proximity of the motorcade route and the Mass to the U.S.-Mexico border, the City of El Paso created a special keyword to request the public’s help sharing tips related to the Pope’s visit.See the following press release from the El Paso Police Department:

Report Suspicious Activity to El Paso Police Department by Texting Keyword “POPE”

Date:  2/8/2016

EL PASO, The El Paso Police Department is seeking the public’s help by reporting suspicious activity to the Department’s Tip411 line. Tip411 allows the public to share important public safety information anonymously with the police department by sending a secure text message about crimes or suspicious activity. The Department is launching a special, keyword dedicated to the upcoming Papal visit.

If you have information of suspicious activity or a crime relating to the Pope’s upcoming visit and have a cell phone may send an anonymous tip to El Paso PD by Texting POPE and their message/tip to 847411(tip411).  Anonymous web tips can also be submitted right on the Police Department’s Facebook page or https://www.elpasotexas.gov/pope915/tip411

Walker County, AL launches tip411 crime reporting app

The Walker County Sheriff’s Office now has an app called Walker Tips that lets residents report crime and remain anonymous. Citizens can send a text tip by texting WALKER plus the tip to 847411.

The project came together with help from the Walker County Chamber of Commerce, Community in Action Coalition and District Attorney Bill Adair.

The push in Walker County is to encourage people to download the free app and use it when they see a problem, from a possible drunk driver to suspicious activity.

Authorities hope this gets teens and young adults more active and reporting crime.

“It’s an easy way for them to communicate their concerns without exposing them to ridicule or peer pressure,” Judge Henry Allred said.

“This is a chance for each of us to be anonymous, completely anonymous, and still fight crime,” Tina Aaron with Community in Action Coalition said.

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What Made for a Successful Launch in Onondaga County, NY?

To announce tip411’s arrival at 20 agencies in the Syracuse area, District Attorney William Fitzpatrick did three important things:

  1. Held a press conference and invited chiefs from local departments to attend to show their support for the system and promote its use to local media outlets.
  2. Produced posters and flyers showing agency-specific tip411 keywords that participating agencies could hand out, give to business, hang in city buildings, and use on their social media sites and webpages.
  3. Participated in ongoing promotion – Aside from the initial press conference, the DA and Syracuse Police Chief gave one-on-one interviews to media outlets in the days following the launch to assure continued coverage of the new system in order to reach more members of the public.

See More:

Video – District Attorney Fitzpatrick discusses tip411 outreach
Video -Onondaga County Lauches tip411

 

The Victoria Police Department Launches tip411 Alerts

The Victoria Police Department is launching tip411 public safety alerts from Citizen Observer which is a new way to keep the community connected and informed through email, text message, and online public safety alerts.

“We believe an informed community is a safer community,” said Chief Jeff Craig.  The new tip411 system will allow our department to communicate directly with members of the public who are interested in receiving information about crime and public safety issues in the City of Victoria.

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