Did you know there are many ways to improve engagement with your community using tip411?
Read our March 2017 Newsletter for 5 simple ways to get started today.
Use Social Media as a Force Multiplier
For agencies with alerting capability, did you know you can connect your tip411 system to Facebook and Twitter to have alerts post automatically to your followers without any extra work? You can also have anonymous tip forms connected to any agency Facebook page so your followers can share tips directly from social media without having to visit your website. Interested? Contact Gordy Christian today and he’ll help set you up at no extra cost.
“We use it in virtually every instance in which we ask for the public’s assistance. Even when we use another social media platforms, like Twitter, to shares suspect images, videos, etc., we ask followers to submit information using tip411. It doesn’t matter to our agency if it is a routine retail theft case or a murder investigation; we include that as a resource to the public.” – Major David Dalton, Clearwater, Florida Police
Get Administrators Trained!
Nothing is worse than having your agency receive tips that aren’t being monitored and responded to in a timely manner. Make sure your staff is adequately trained and that tips are going to personnel who will be responsible for logging in, checking on tips, and starting a 2-way conversation with the tipster.
“At first, the Crime Analysis Unit and I were the main administrators of the program. When tips came in we would farm them out to patrol, narcotics, etc. As the popularity of the system grew, we realized there was a need for 24/7 coverage because we wanted to make sure people weren’t texting us tips and then waiting for a response to come during normal business hours.” – Major David Dalton, Clearwater, Florida Police
Walker County tip411 Launch Press Conference
With several of our customers currently attending the CADCA National Conference in Washington, D.C., we wanted to share this video from February of 2016 when the Walker County Sheriff’s Office launched tip411 with their District Attorney and Walker County Community in Action in a successful joint press conference.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPymKrUXU0g]
Drawbacks to Social Media Data Mining for Police
Many agencies have begun using, or are considering purchasing, social media monitoring tools to mine Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms for crime-related information.
Recently, however, Twitter announced that it was pulling data access for police surveillance tools, and other companies are expected to follow suit.
Our products, specifically the tip411 two way anonymous tip chat solution, can provide a way to gather direct intelligence from citizens (without companies like Twitter and Facebook) determining what data is available to you.
Social media monitoring tools are an excellent resource for investigations and intelligence gathering, but may be increasingly limited over time.
We recently heard from a large department in California who reached out and thanked us for letting them know about this as they were very close to purchasing one of these expensive monitoring tools because they thought they needed it.
We would appreciate the opportunity to share how introducing tip411 into your community can help create direct engagement, without the use of such expensive and limited tools.
There are currently law enforcement agencies in more than 40 states and 1,4000 communities using tip411, and we hope you’ll contact us to request more information or to schedule a brief demo.