New York, NY – In an effort to involve younger citizens, the New York City Police Department unveiled a way to send in tips via text message.
Texting CRIMES, or 274637, on a cell phone, will begin a text conversation with detectives who will be standing by at the police department.
To begin, users must precede their message with the code, “TIP577,” which will then create an alias to ensure anonymity. In case of danger, police said, a user can conclude a message with the word “stop,” which will keep him or her from receiving any further messages from the police.
“With teenagers and younger people, there is a culture of texting,” Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said. “They’re opting to text each other, so we’re taking advantage of that.”
(Source: NY Sun)
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One Response
Why must you type “tip577”. Can’t their system figure out an alias for you without that? When reporting crimes, every extra second can be important and having to type a few extra letters can be dangerous.