The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

January 29, 2010

Police taking tips via text

Anonymous info can be submitted

By Joe Pinchot

MERCER COUNTY — Mercer County Crime Solvers and the Mercer County Chiefs of Police Association have started a program called Text-A-Tip for people to send anonymous tips on crimes by text messaging.

Text Tip477 and the message to CRIMES (274637). Tips should include the type of crime, the names of people involved, complete addresses, telephone numbers, vehicle information and how the crime is being committed.

The anonymous donors who fund Crime Solvers allowed money from that fund to be used to buy the Text-A-Tip equipment, said Hermitage Police Chief Patrick B. McElhinny.

The new program takes advantage of a growing technology, and streamlines the process of providing anonymous information, he said.

“It’s a technology — I’m not so proficient on it — but that is commonplace,” McElhinny said. “A lot of people text every day.”

Texts can be sent at any time, while anonymous phone tips generally have only been possible when a department’s office is open. In the cases of tips being phoned in to 911, a dispatcher has had to contact someone from the police department, he said.

The tips are routed through a server that is not associated with a police agency. The system encrypts the telephone number of the text’s origin, and assigns a user identification number to the message.

The tip then goes to Mercer County 911, where dispatchers review it, decide what law enforcement agency should get the tip, and forward it.

“If it’s something that’s pressing, dispatchers then initiate contact with the officers on duty,” McElhinny said.

Dispatchers likely will not be reviewing texts the minute they come in, and police departments might not become aware of them until they again have office hours, McElhinny said.

Anyone with a signature attached to texts should disable the signature before sending the text.

Because of the user ID number, a police investigator can communicate with the tipster and seek additional information without learning the identity of the tipster. The tipster can choose to respond, or not.

McElhinny said there have been several instances in the past year in Mercer County where anonymous information has led to the solving of serious crimes, or the arrest of wanted persons.

“That kind of information is extremely valuable because it saves lots of man hours for us,” he said of wanted person tips.

Text-A-Tip is not to be used to report crimes that are in progress, or where an immediate police response is required; traffic violations; or emergencies. These types of calls should be made to 911, which accepts requests for anonymity.

Texts can be sent to local police departments, state police and other law enforcement agencies, such as Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pennsylvania Boat and Fish Commission and Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.

If police have previously determined that a reward is available for information that helps them with a particular investigation, the anonymous tipster could receive a reward, McElhinny said.

Not all anonymous texts will result in a reward, he said.

Other police agencies with similar programs in the U.S. and Canada have reported success with it.

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