April 20--Got a tip that will blow a police investigation wide open? Well, there's an app for that.
The Duluth Police Department on Thursday launched an application that will allow those with mobile devices like smart phones and tablets to report tips about crimes or suspicious activity via text, video, images and voice. The application is called iWatchDuluth.
It's the way technology is headed, Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said Thursday afternoon at the new police headquarters on Arlington Avenue.
But one thing won't change.
"911 is still the way to report crimes," Ramsay said.
Tips by texting isn't new, even in the Northland. The Superior Police Department has been having success with a text tip line.
Ramsay said 68 police or sheriff's offices are using the iWatch program. Cities such as Dallas, Philadelphia and Baltimore are using the application. It was made available in 2007.
He expects the program to ease apprehension people might have about calling 911 for minor bits of information.
Investigator Mike Tinsley, who has led the technological leap for the department since November, said information won't be lost down the chain of message taking from the front office and eventually to officers.
Investigators have monitors that display tips that come in. They can also plug into the system with their own smart phones. The secure interface for tipsters includes a wide range of categories of crime to choose from so the information goes to the right officer.
Users will remain anonymous but officers will be able to text questions back about the information, though they still won't know who the tipster is.
"Pictures are worth a thousand words," Ramsay said of the multiple ways people can send information.
Ramsay said iWatch will also have a reach beyond the email alerts the department now uses to send crime information to those who sign up. He expects neighborhoods or businesses to form alert groups for back-and-forth information such as burglary trends and for that information to be more handy on a cell phone than through email that may be on an inactive computer.
"Email alerts aren't as mobile," he said.
Ramsay said any fears about the system being misused would be handled like excessive 911 callers.
Tinsley said police judgment and investigative protocol will still be used no matter what form a tip comes in.
"There's a human factor in the decision making," he said. "The tips are just a piece, not an automatic. We will investigate."
The money to start the program comes from a $5,000 national award from the Met Life Foundation the department won last year to promote neighborhood safety and revitalization. Ramsay said the money mostly went to startup costs such as software and hardware. The yearly subscription through iWatch will be $1,000.
The department will be watching to see if the new avenue for tips creates more workloads for the department. Tinsley said he expects iWatch will cut down on multiple message handling with tips going directly to the appropriate investigators at their monitors.
MOBILE TIP LINE
- Using the iWatchDuluth application for mobile devices, users can sign up for crime alerts or report crime tips and other information directly to police officers.
- The web site to get the app is iwatchduluth.com.
- The number to call in tips is (218) 303-1585.
Copyright 2012 - Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
