#tipsoft

It is official, the Northeast Texas Area Crime Stoppers Hotline is now being answered by a Professional Answering Service that specializes in Crime Stoppers tip handling. This allows us to be able to handle calls from the Hispanic Community with bilingual staff being available to take calls.

We are pleased to announce the addition of several new pieces of technology that will assist the citizens of Winfield in Titus County, Morris County and Franklin County with reporting their Crime Stoppers tips. With our program focusing the next couple of months on our school systems, these tools will be helpful in making successful school programs.

First is our website.  The website allows us to offer the community up-to-date information on Crimes of the Week, Wanted Fugitives, Missing Persons, Deadbeat Parents and Crime Prevention Tips, as well as updated information about community activities. Please stop by our website at www.netacrimestoppers.org and take a look. If your business is interested in sponsoring a banner ad, please click Support Us’ for information.

Tipsters are able to quickly and easily fill out a secure web form simply by clicking “Submit a Web Tip” with their tip on crimes or wanted fugitives.  By clicking “Web Tip Follow-up” on the webpage, Tipsters are able to log back in with a unique identifier and password to check for updates on case status, check for questions from investigators for additional information which could further assist them with the case, or information on how and where to pick up their REWARD MONEY if their information has led to an arrest. All of this can be done with the Tipster staying completely anonymous. It is very important that the Tipster does not lose their Identifying Number or Password!

The second tool is the Text-a-Tip program. This allows Tipsters to text their tip to Crime Stoppers.  All they have to do is type NTX and then their tip to 274637 (CRIMES) and the system will do the rest. The Coordinator of the Crime Stoppers Program will receive the information while the Tipster remains anonymous. Once Crime Stoppers receives the tip, text messages can be sent back and forth from Crime Stoppers to the Tipster to assist with getting further information. As a safety precaution, the Tipster can text STOP at any time and delete the message to avoid detection. If the tip is used to solve a crime, then a text message can be sent back to the Tipster with instructions on where and how to pick up their reward payment.

There are iPhone and Android apps available, free of charge from the Apple Store and Android Market, which allow for anonymous tips to be made, follow-up messages to be sent back and forth to Crime Stoppers and the ability to send photographs to Crime Stoppers, straight from a cell phone. If interested, please go to the Apple Store or Android Market to get your app FREE OF CHARGE! It not only works with our program but many other organizations around the USA and Canada who are signed up for the service.

In the beginning of May 2012, our Tip Hotline (903) 577-TIPS (8477) is being answered by an outside answering service that specializes in taking Crime Stoppers tips. Unlike most programs where the Crime Stoppers Tip Line is handled locally, this will give Tipsters the added confidence that their identities are safe and there is no way for the person taking the tip to recognize voices of callers.

Its becoming more and more of a necessity that agencies adopt texting and smartphone applications to securely and anonymously get tips from the public since more and more people use text messaging and mobile applications as their primary means of communication over voice.

One company leading the trend of getting local agencies to use text messages, web forms or smartphone applications to obtain crime tips is Draper, Utah based Public Engines, Inc. and its TipSoft program. TipSoft was acquired from Anderson Software in 2010. The TipSoft suite includes TipSoft Online with WebTips. TipSoft Online is the management portal that allows subscribers (those agencies who use the service) to receive, reply to, query, disseminate, dispose of and report in detail on all tips regardless of source. This includes the viewing of attachments that are submitted using current and planned smartphone applications as well those submitted by the public using WebTips. TipSoft even has a mobile friendly interface. From a mobile browser, agency staff  can do all the functions that are available from the desktop.

WebTips -

WebTips is the public portal that allows members of the public to create accounts, log in and give tips to local, participating agencies. WebTips also affords the tipster the ability to update their tip, add images and respond to questions asked by the affected agency. TipSoft is very big on allowing two way communications between the tipster and the agency and this carries over across the web interface, SMS messages and their smartphone application. TipSoft SMS - With the addition of TipSoft SMS, the agency uses the SMS Short Code provided by TipSoft (274637 or CRIMES) and a keyword. The keyword is usually TIPS + the agency name. This is where the agency gets to customize the service. If the keyword is available, they can use it. As an example Los Angeles PD  uses the keyword LAPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives uses ATF. Currently there are hundreds of law enforcement agencies using the TipSoft SMS short code. A sample of the agencies I've found using the TipSoft program are -

New Braunfels/ Comal County Crime Stoppers - Keyword COMAL

Worcester Police Department, MA - Keyword TIPWPD

Crime Stoppers of Oregon - Keyword 823HELP

Calgary Crime Stoppers - Keyword TTTTIPS

Chicago Police - Keyword CPD

Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation Police - Keyword SAFEREZ

Sacramento Police - Keyword SACTIP

Lubbock Police - Keyword LBKTIPS

To send a message to the ATF, for example, you would address your Text to 274637 and in the message you would put -

ATF your tip or other message here.  

ATF would tell the TipSoft servers where to route your message and the message text is then sent to the agency using that code. Even using an SMS to send a tip in, the agency has the ability to ask questions directly to the tipster using TipSoft Online.

TipSubmit -

The newest addition to the TipSoft suite is the iPhone application, TipSubmit. With this application installed, tipsters launch the application which uses the phones built in GPS to locate the closest agency or one can be selected from a list. From there the user fills out a form on the phone, attaches photos or videos and then submits it to the agency. Like the SMS - or calling a local crime stoppers tip line, the user is given a Tip Code so the user is able to follow up or add more information as well as receive questions from the agency. TipSubmit can be downloaded from the iTunes store free. Smartphone applications aren't limited to iOS devices. In the works are Android and Backberry apps as well with the Android version is expected to be released within the next 60 days. Additional - Currently there are 731 agencies subscribing to TipSoft from the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Caribbean and South Pacific. While there are that many subscribers, there are far more agencies benefiting from TipSoft since most of the subscribers are crime stoppers organizations who cover multiple agencies/jurisdictions. Corporate users are General Electric's Consumer and Industrial Division for GE's Text-a-Tip initiative for employee feedback. GE joined Macy's Corp. TipSoft has also partnered with Safe2Tell. Safe2Tell allows students to report threatening behaviors or activities endangering themselves or someone they know. The TipSoft suite is available to corporate, government and crime stoppers programs.  Users signing up for TipSoft are able to access TipSoft Online with WebTips and they can opt to add the TipSoft SMS feature as well as using the already completed iPhone TipSubmit application and the upcoming Android application. TipSubmit works with either WebTips and/or TipSoft SMS. I had the chance to talk to speak with Kevin Anderson, of Anderson Software, LLC. yesterday about the TipSoft and TipSubmit programs and how they worked. One of the big questions I was wondering was what was the cost to the agency to use TipSoft. Anderson was very pleased with the effective low cost of the suite ($1,800/year) especially since he knows that local agencies are having cash flow issues due to the tight economy and budget cuts. Anderson was also very positive about the ability for agencies to have a two way conversation with those submitting tips in order to obtain more information.

Anonymity -

We all know that, according to the crime stoppers commercials, all tipsters are anonymous. Its not just a saying, its the law. To add extra protection, TipSoft uses 256 bit encryption and Anderson has the servers that handle the tipsters information located in Canada. Anderson said that this was due to increased privacy laws in Canada as well as the Leibert decision by the Supreme Court of Canada making it a Canadian right to anonymity for Crime Stoppers tipsters. About -

TipSoft/Anderson Software -

Anderson created TipSoft in as a way to track and monitor informant tips and information. Since then it has grown and added new features. First was the WebTips which went live in 2005 with two way dialog ability added in 2006. The secure SMS feature was added in 2007. In June 2010, TipSoft was purchased by CrimeReports.com. TipSoft has lead to (as of mid 2010) -

122,967 arrests 45,529 fugitives taken into custody 10,959 vehicles recovered $4.6 billion in illegal drugs taken off the street

CrimeReports.com -