The Department of Land and Natural Resources has released an app that allows you to make anonymous reports and tips to them. The app also allows you to post photos and videos. Also, unlike DLNR’s old answering machine where tips were not always documented, the app that launched today, stores it’s history.
Watch the report from KITV, Honolulu, Hawaii news, sports & weather – KITV Channel 4
…An important part of responding to bullying is to know when it is happening. Teachers and administrators are trained in the ‘4 A Response’, through PBIS, how to Affirm a student giving a report, Ask the right questions, Assess the report or threat, and Act on the information appropriately.
Students are provided ways to report bullying, including telling a trusted adult, using a paper method in the front office, or by using the Tip411 text or email app. While all students are encouraged to talk candidly with counselors, teachers, administrators, coaches or other adults they trust, many opt for more anonymous methods like Tip411.
The app is offered in partnership with Napa and American Canyon police departments and the Napa County Sheriff, and allows students to anonymously report bullying, suicide threats, crimes or other situations to school administrators and law enforcement, who can move quickly to investigate any unsafe incidents.
And, of course, we encourage parents to be vigilant for signs of bullying or bullying behavior, and to report concerns to a teacher and principal…
Read the full post from the Napa Valley Unified School District in the Napa Valley Register
The Highland County Sheriff’s Office now allows the public to share important public safety information anonymously with law enforcement by sending them a secure text message about crimes or suspicious activity in Highland County via a free smartphone app.
The Highland County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that it is launching “tip411,” an internet-based tool from Citizen Observer that enables the public to text message an anonymous tip to law enforcement and lets the officers respond back, creating an anonymous two-way conversation. The app can be downloaded for free via the Google Play store and iTunes App Store. Enter Highland County Sheriff in the search bar.
In addition, anyone with a cell phone may send an anonymous tip to the Highland County Sheriff’s office by texting HCSHERIFF and their message/tip to 847411 (tip411). Anonymous web tips can be submitted right from the sheriff’s office website at www.highlandcoso.com.
The Text Tips App and tip411 anonymous text-a-tip system are 100 percent anonymous, as the technology removes all identifying information before law enforcement officers see the tips and there is no way to identify the sender.
“We believe the public is our greatest law enforcement resource,” said sheriff Donnie Barrera, adding that “tip411 allows a safe and secure way for community members to share important information with law enforcement without the fear of retribution.”
Smartphone apps have uses ranging from checking the weather to watching movies to reading about the latest breaking news, and everything in between. Now Crow Wing County residents can download an app that lets them send crime tips to the sheriff’s department and communicate with local law enforcement from anywhere while remaining anonymous.
Tip411 is a program that has been gaining popularity in the lakes area over the last eight months. After downloading the CWCS Mobile app on an iPhone or Android device, users can simply submit anonymous tips relating to any criminal or suspicious activity directly to the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office.
And that’s not all.
“The cool thing with this feature is people can still remain anonymous if they wish, but we’re allowed to communicate back with them. So that’s where we can add the additional questions,” said Capt. Scott Goddard, of the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office.
The app allows the investigator receiving the tips to respond to the tipster and ask follow-up questions.
“They’ll text us in something very vague, like, ‘Vehicles coming or going late at night from a residence,'” Goddard said. “And then our follow-up questions might be, ‘Well, can you give us descriptions of the vehicle?’ or ‘What times are the vehicles coming and going?'”
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.
