Government Technology - November 2008 - (Page 49)

McCoy cautions other police departments that the program can expand very quickly and they should be prepared to send police officers for follow-ups. “One thing we don’t want is for a tip to come in and for someone to feel that it’s not being followed up,” he said. Cops Cast Social Net When scouring MySpace for friends, users might stumble across their local police department. Some police departments use social networking Web sites to interact with communities and solve crimes. The Tampa, Fla., Police Department ofﬁcially launched its MySpace page in August 2008, but started it earlier to build a base of friends, and upload pictures and videos of crimes they were trying to solve. According to its MySpace page, the department’s mood is “determined” (MySpace users can alert visitors as to their current mood). Next to the proﬁle picture, which is a police badge, are the words, “Help us solve crimes! Add us as your friend!” “We were trying to ﬁnd a way to get our message out there more, but also to a younger demographic,” said Andrea Davis, spokeswoman for the police department. The Tampa PD uses the blog area to post information, pictures and videos of crimes under investigation. At press time, it had yet to receive any tips through MySpace, but had more than 200 friends. “It’s going to be whatever major crimes we’re trying to solve, whether it’s robberies, burglaries, anything that could help us solve crimes,” Davis said. As for upkeep, employees from different departments will check for messages and update information. “We have a couple people on a committee who will be doing it; someone from burglary, someone from robbery, and then also here, in our [communications] ofﬁce, we all have access to it,” Davis said. Two-Way Interaction The Connecticut State Police’s program works differently. It allows two-way communication between the police and the texter, while retaining anonymity. The state’s program is run by Anderson Software’s TipSoft SMS, and there are three components to each text message. First, instead of a phone number, the text is sent to vanity code CRIMES — or 274637. Second, the routing number, which is TIP###, goes in the message body; the accompanying numbers are different for each police department. Third, users enter their crime tip after the routing number. According to Vance, after the tip is sent, the texter receives a message saying it was received and he or she is given an identification number alias, such as R123. The police use the alias to reply to the texter with follow-up questions or additional information. All messages are routed through the TipSoft server to retain encryption, and at no time are the police given identifiers as to who the person could be. There isn’t direct communication with the tipster. “The unique thing about the text-a-tip program is it’s completely anonymous,” Vance said. “The texter of the tip enters the information into their cell phone, and it goes to a clearinghouse out of the United States — actually it goes to Canada. All the identifiers are stripped off the message, and then the message is forwarded to the appropriate police department in Connecticut.” According to the TipSoft SMS Web site, the text-message submission process takes three to four seconds to go through the encryption process, and for security reasons senders should erase the messages from their cell phones. Vance said the Connecticut State Police has troopers assigned to receive the tips 24/7, and they send it to the proper location if needed. “We’ve gotten bits of information that, for example, we’ve passed on to a small, local police department that certainly was beneficial to them,” Vance said. information to the police, it will afford them another avenue to reach us,” he said. Fighting Crime Silently The Washington, D.C., and Connecticut police departments said text-a-tip is a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-install program for aiding crime-fighting efforts. Connecticut set up tip lines for its five major cities: Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford, Waterbury and New Haven. To prepare for the rollout, Vance said the state police department met with IT personnel from these five cities to ensure they were all on the same page and that each department would be prepared to receive the tips 24/7. “It seems like a fairly inexpensive tool that we can add to our toolbox to investigate crimes,” Vance said. “We’re encouraged having examined other agencies that have had this in place for awhile.” Both departments want the public to be aware that the text-message tips don’t replace calling 911 during an emergency. “What’s important about the text-a-tip program is it is not a 911 service,” Vance said. “It is not to report a crime, but simply provide information about one that has already occurred or one that someone knows is being planned.” The program began July 28, 2008. The next step will be placing informative posters in hospital emergency departments across Connecticut. “We feel that is one area where many victims of crime or witnesses to crime end up,” Vance said. “And we’re going to provide our investigators with a small business card that has the text-a-tip information on it.” Police investigators will be able to distribute the information card with their personal business card. “We think for some people who are reluctant in getting involved in providing 49 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - November 2008

Government Technology - November 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for … Forward Thinkers Taking Tech Home Virtual Frontier Hidden Costs Uncovered Seeing Red For the Record In the Loop Benign Dictatorship Home-Field Advantage A Better Way to Park New Tools for Fighting Crime How It Works Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise

Government Technology - November 2008

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