Press release from: Clackamas Co. Sheriff's Office

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office launches new service allowing citizens to send crime tips via text message

Clackamas County citizens can now send text and Web tips to Clackamas County Sheriff's Office using Anderson Software SMS
_____

HOW-TO VIDEO: On the county's video server, you'll find a how-to video on sending crime tips to the Sheriff's Office via cell-phone text message. (All county-server videos are optimized to played on Windows using Internet Explorer.)

_____

On Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. Sheriff Craig Roberts unveiled an exciting new crime-fighting tool: Cell-phone users across Clackamas County can now send anonymous crime-fighting tips through the power of anonymous text messaging. CCSO is the first law-enforcement agency in the metro area to provide this service.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office signed up with Anderson Software to provide the service -- which allows citizens to send anonymous tips by sending a text message from a mobile phone or online.

HOW IT WORKS

USING A CELL PHONE:

To submit a crime tip to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office from a cell phone, all users have to do is send a text message to CRIMES (274637 on your phone keypad) -- with the keyword CCSO as the first word in the message body.

FOR EXAMPLE: A tipster would send the following message to CRIMES (274637 on your phone keypad):

 "CCSO John Doe has been stealing from his neighbor's toolshed"

ON THE WEB:

To submit a crime tip to the Sheriff's Office using the Web, users now have two options:

1. They can use the "Tip Sheet" previously available on the Sheriff's Office Web site;
   
   
2. Or they can now submit crime tips by visiting the secure Web site www.TipSubmit.com. Tipsters using this site will get a user name and password that keeps their identity anonymous -- allowing them to log in to www.TipSubmit.com at a later date and anonymously answer deputies' follow-up questions.

KEEPING TIPSTERS ANONYMOUS -- EVEN ON FOLLOW-UP CONVERSATIONS

TipSoft, the company providing the service, counts among its users the NYPD, LAPD, Chicago Police Department, and New Scotland Yard.

Using TipSoft text tips, information may be anonymously received and securely replied to. The TipSoft service was built to allow text-messaging informants to remain anonymous by encrypting the text messages and routing them through several secure servers -- protecting the personal details of the informant.

TipSoft SMS also allows police to respond by text message to the originating cell phone without ever knowing the identity of the individual who left the tip. The user's information is always given an alias and a unique ID before being sent. This secure application allows the tipster and investigator to have two-way dialog while always keeping the user's identity completely anonymous.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office encourages everyone to report information about any non-urgent illegal activity -- such as unsolved cases, vandalism, theft, the sale and distribution of drugs, or information about crimes that are being planned in the community or schools.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTES:

• It is critically important to emphasize to the public that text-messaging does not take the place of 911 emergency calls. If you are in need of immediate emergency service, call 911. To report a crime in progress, call 911.
  
  
• It's also important to note that citizens need to verbally call 911 -- because 911 centers in Oregon are NOT able to receive text messages.
  
  
• If you are the victim of a crime that occurred that occurred in Clackamas County and need to file a police report, contact non-emergency dispatch at (503) 655-8211.
  
  
• If you have non-emergency information about criminal activity, please free to send a text message to CRIMES (274637) that starts with the keyword CCSO.

Additional information on TipSoft Text Tips can be found on the Web at www.smscrimetips.com.

[END]

Jim Strovink, Detective
Public Information Officer
Clackamas County Sheriff's Office