McFarland Police Department Send Anonymous Tips
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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

BJA - Bureau of Justice Assistance U.S Department of Justice
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tip411 is a Qualified Program for DOJ-BJA Grant Funds

Through its Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the U.S. Department of Justice is releasing over $34M in grant funds for state and local jurisdictions to prevent and reduce school violence through use of technology. tip411 is a qualified program to provide through the use of these grant funds.

As you may know, BJA is the primary provider of criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions.

The BJA STOP School Violence grant clearly outlines use of this kind of technology, tip411, as a priority.  In fact, BJA plans to make up to 17 awards of up to $250,000 each under its Category 7: Technology and Reporting.  The main objective under this category is “to implement a technological solution, such as an anonymous reporting technology, that can be implemented as a mobile phone-based app, a hotline, or a website in the applicant’s geographic area designed to enable students, teachers, faculty, and community members to anonymously identify threats of school violence…  The proposed technology solution should be used to help prevent incidents before they occur.”

tip411 is a cost-effective web based toolset that allows law enforcement to communicate with, and get tips from, the community across a variety of channels including custom branded apps, 2-way anonymous text messages, community alerts via email, text and social media.

Applications are due June 11, 2019.  To reiterate, tip411 is a qualified program to provide through these grant funds and we have staff on hand to help assist you in preparing your application to include our technology as part of your overall strategy.

Have questions? Contact us today!

Atlantic city police cruiser
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Anonymous texts to ACPD lead to drugs, gun and five arrests

A tip to Atlantic City’s anonymous texting system led to drugs, guns and five arrests.
Thursday morning, police received texts from an unknown person to tip411 that handguns were inside a room at the Madison Hotel, Sgt. Kevin Fair said.

That sparked an investigation by Detective Ermindo Marsini at the hotel on the beach block of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Abdul Bobo-Moore, 22, ran when detectives tried to stop him leaving the hotel, Fair said.

He didn’t get far, and had heroin on him, according to the charges, which include possession with intent to distribute and obstruction of justice.

In an apartment inside the Madison, police arrested four teenagers, Fair said.

Azyiah Henry, 18, of Mays Landing, was charged with possession, possession with intent to distribute and possession within 500 feet of a public zone.

Omar Law, 18, of Atlantic City and a 17-year-old Mays Landing girl were charged with drug possession. The girl also was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

A 16-year-old boy, also from Mays Landing, was found in possession of a loaded handgun magazine.

Detectives also found a loaded handgun inside the apartment. That will be sent to the

New Jersey State Police crime lab for further analysis, Fair said.

Detectives recovered 110 individual bags of heroin and 25 grams of marijuana in total.

The three adults were released on summonses. The two minors were released to their parents with future court dates.

Tip411 allows people to have an anonymous conversation with police by texting tip411 (847411) beginning with ACPD.

Information may also be called in to police at 609-347-5858.

View the alert from Atlantic City Police

Benton Harbor Police Department Cruiser
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New tip411 system not intended to replace 911 calls

Lack of witness cooperation has been a frustration for Benton Harbor Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis throughout his law enforcement career.

He hopes that use of a new, customized, crime-fighting smartphone app will help residents get involved. The tip411 system, which will be available to Benton Harbor residents within four weeks, is 100 percent anonymous, McGinnis said Friday.

McGinnis stresses that it is not intended to replace 911. He said residents in an emergency situation should continue to call 911. But someone witnessing a minor incident or having delayed information about a major incident should use the tip411 app. Residents in Benton Harbor without a smartphone will be able to text an anonymous tip to police via a cell phone by texting keyword BHPD to 847411 (tip411).

“This is not to replace 911,” McGinnis said. “But sometimes, if people want to be anonymous, they get frustrated if they call 911 to report something and a dispatcher starts asking a battery of questions when the person just wants to have the police come. People get frustrated and hang up.”

The app will allow residents to find information, view alerts, report crimes as they happen, and submit anonymous tips from their smartphone. The technology removes all identifying information before police see the tips, and there is no way to identify the sender.

“Our mission is to partner with the community to solve problems and improve public safety in a manner that is fair, impartial, transparent and consistent,” McGinnis said. “We believe our new tip411 app will help engage residents to partner with us and help fight crime.” 

McGinnis said he does not know all the reasons people are uncooperative or unwilling to report crimes or provide witness testimony. He said a common reason is fear of retaliation. Although in reality, he said, that typically does not happen. 

“Or sometimes they’re just apathetic. We have people who are victims and they will not name the perpetrator. It’s a cultural thing,” he said.

Developed by tip411, the app will improve the public’s access to agency alerts, social media channels and important information, tip411 President Terry Halsch stated in a news release.

“We’ve listened to feedback from partners like Benton Harbor and have built a more advanced and innovative product to help departments better engage their communities,” he said.

McGinnis said as soon as the app is available for residents to download, it will be announced through traditional media and social media.

Read the full story from The Herald Palladium

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Benton Harbor bringing in tip411 app

Benton Harbor residents will soon be able to report suspicious activity through tip411, a smartphone app that allows people to report activities anonymously.

Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis said he wants to help citizens feel safe communicating with law enforcement.

“The company that does this will not reveal the person’s name,” he said. 

He said they have talked to people who know who shot them, but won’t tell the police. 

“We had a person who had been murdered, who was done in front of people who actually took him to the hospital and none of them wanted step up and speak,” he said.

McGinnis said it’s a chance to let people communicate on their own terms.

“We just need the information,” he said. “We don’t care where it come from in most cases. But if we don’t get it, it makes it hard for us to protect your neighborhoods.”

In addition, he said the app will allow the department to send out alerts if needed.

After the meeting, Deputy Director Mike Clark said residents will be notified, when the app is ready, about how to download and use it through the city’s website and a news release. He didn’t know how long it will take to launch the app. 

During the meeting, McGinnis said one of the things residents sometimes want to report anonymously is illegal dumping.

McGinnis declared war on illegal dumping about two weeks ago. Anyone who sees someone suspected of illegal dumping can call the new dumping hotline at 944-7929.

“It’s absolutely appalling,” he said.

He said a state Department of Environmental Quality investigator last week found five automobile repair shops that didn’t have the proper paperwork, showing that they legally disposed of scrap tires.

“They are on notice,” he said. “… The tire situation is absolutely horrendous. We have hundreds and hundreds of tires in ravines.”

McGinnis said they have made 13 arrests concerning illegal dumping since the last City Commission meeting. 

Read the full story from The Herald-Palladium