[StBernard] Texting local crime tips made easier with iPhone app and St. Bernard Parish participation

[Westley Annis]

Texting local crime tips made easier with iPhone app and St. Bernard Parish
participation

Published: Friday, February 25, 2011, 3:39 PM     Updated: Friday, February
25, 2011, 3:40 PM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

For years, the only text-friendly crime tip hotline in the New Orleans area
has been through Crimestoppers' membership with TipSoft, a product founded
by the Texas-based company Anderson Software that allows residents to
anonymously send text message tips on crimes in their area.

St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office this month joined the TipSoft network as
a mechanism to encourage residents to give them tips on drug activity in the
parish. Unlike 911, TipSoft has caught on as a way of keeping anonymity and
thereby allaying tipsters fears about repercussions.

Residents still are encouraged to dial 911 for any immediate emergency.

Also earlier this month, TipSoft released an iPhone application that allows
iPhone users to submit information on all sorts of crimes either directly to
participating local agencies or to Crimestoppers, which then forwards
information on to local departments. Applications for other mobile devices
are expected within the next few months.

While TipSoft's iPhone application does not have a character limit, the text
message feature only allows 160 characters and so can require separate text
messages to get the full gist of the tip across.

Law enforcement officials can return text messages to obtain additional
facts about the tip, but there is a guarantee of anonymity.

The officials never see the tipster's name or telephone number. The messages
are sent to a separate, third-party server, where identifying information is
stripped and users are assigned an encrypted alias before being sent onward
to Crimestoppers or law enforcement agencies.

Tipsters can text 274637 - or CRIMES - on their cell phones. Within a
minute, TipSoft will send users a text response with an assigned alias,
which acts as a verification that the text was received. Tips submitted both
through the iPhone application and the text feature can include uploaded
images and video. The iPhone application includes a feature that allows for
an anonymous real-time, two-way chat with law enforcement officials.

When texting tips about the St. Bernard area, the start of the text should
include the code "SBSOTIPS." When texting information about New Orleans
crimes, start the next with the term "TELLCS" and it will sent to
Crimestoppers and then on to the New Orleans Police Department.

St. Bernard Sheriff Jack Stephens recently has discussed the surge of drug
use and trafficking in St. Bernard since Hurricane Katrina. He says the
parish once had more prescription drug abuse, but that heroin use has shot
up. He said the trend is blamed it in part on an increased fluidity between
St. Bernard and the 9th Ward.

Chief Deputy James Pohlmann said the tip-a-text program costs the department
less than $1,000 a year and will be paid for through the narcotics seizure
found, money seized through narcotics arrests.

While texts about St. Bernard currently will only be received by narcotics
offices, if the tips relate to other crime areas the officers will forward
them on to the relevant department, Pohlmann said.

For narcotics tips, residents can also phone the St. Bernard Sheriff
Office's drug hotline at 504.271.DOPE (3673) and leave an anonymous message,
or e-mail information to sbsonarcotics at sbso.org.

According to Anderson Software, the TipSoft program is being used by more
than 600 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada, including the New
York, Los Angeles and Chicago police departments.