At crime scenes in Boston, youth who gathered in the aftermath to watch the police at work were often texting and making calls, communicating about the events that had just transpired – and which they may have seen.
Like many police departments around the country, Boston Police Department was struggling with “a culture that fosters a lack of cooperation and a code of silence, if you will,” according to department spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. But the department’s police commissioner noticed the persistent use of cell phones at the crime scenes, and the department began exploring how it might be able to tap into the information that community members had, and were obviously sharing via mobile devices.
Since the department wanted a communications perspective, they reached out to communications firm Hill Holliday, which put them in touch with VeriSign Inc. – and ultimately resulted in the country’s first text-messaging tip line. Launched last year, the Crime Stoppers Mobile program offers a short code that people can send a text message to with information about a crime – an incident in progress, an old case or a recent one.
The goal, Driscoll said, “was to give the community an opportunity to put forth any information that they might have related to any criminal activity – recent, past, current .[or] up and coming, just giving them an anonymous mechanism to communicate with us about anything related to community concerns and criminal activity.”
Users can text the world “tip” to the short code C-R-I-M-E, and then the police department can engage them in a two-way conversation-while the tipster’s personal information, such as cell-phone number, is masked – about details of the tip.
Strong response
Driscoll said the department has “received hundreds of tips, including tips about a recent homicide case that were very helpful to us” and a “significant amount” of tips related to illegal drug activity. Due to national coverage of the department’s program, she added, tips have come in from as far away as Midwestern states.
One such far-away tip, Driscoll said, claimed to give an exact location in the Midwest of a terrorism suspect. When Boston police alerted the local department in the Midwest to the information, “They went to the address provided and did in fact find someone with an outstanding warrant for terrorism.”
In another case, she said, the family of a 8-year-old boy told police that he had been shot and killed in an armed home invasion incident. Even as police were investigating the family’s account, Driscoll said, tips began coming in that a younger cousin had actually shot him – which turned out to be the case.
One of the unexpected benefits of the program, Driscoll said, has been that it “is also a major help to somebody with a hearing disability.” One tipster reported a roadside domestic dispute, and the Boston department was able to quickly notify the state police, since the incident was in their jurisdiction. When the department sent a message back to the tipster thanking him or her for helping resolve the matter without injuries to anyone, the tipster thanked the department in kind for having the tip line, because being deaf had previously meant that the person had trouble contacting 911 while away from his or her home phone equipment.
The tip short code can be used by wireless subscribers from any carrier, according to Robert Kramer, direct of mobile marketing for VeriSign. The text messages come in to a Web-based user interface that can be accessed by the police department, but the system keeps the tipster’s information anonymous from the police department.
Other programs on deck
Although Boston’s program is the first of its kind, both Kramer and Driscoll said that departments around the country have been seeking information about how to launch their own SMS tip lines.
“It’s been actually overwhelming,” Kramer said. “I think we’ve been in touch with almost every major city police department to see how we might help them roll out similar programs.”
He added that some additional deployments are in the works and may be launched as soon as the first or second quarter of 2008.
“We think that in 2007, it was a logical next step in the way that we communicate with our community, and we look forward to its continued success,” Driscoll said.
