If
you see a crime in progress or need to report an emergency,
please call 911.
Instructions
on how to send an anonymous text tip:
Select
text “Messaging” or “SMS” (short
messaging service) on your phone’s main menu.
Create
(compose) a new message, beginning with the keyword
TIP672 (not case sensitive) in the body of the
message.
Send
the message to the short code of 274637 (Crimes)
Your initial submission will trigger an auto response
from the secure transaction server. You will receive
brief notes and a unique code number to that response.
You must remember this code number, as it cannot be
retrieved later.
You
and the Crime Stoppers coordinator may elect to engage
in secure and encrypted two-way dialog at this time
with no additional keywords being required to communicate
with the system.
You
can text STOP to the short code 274637 (CRIMES) at any
time to rest the system where you cannot be replied
to by Crime Stoppers. If you do not send STOP any further
text messages from the same phone do not get a reply
but are received. Any new text messages would require
the TIP672 keyword again and would be assigned
a new code number by the system.
Standard
text messaging rates may apply.
How
Your Identity Is Kept Secret
The
technology used to keep tipsters anonymous while sending
Text Tips to Police is called Tipsoft. This technology
strips the identifying information of the tipster away
from the tip so the identity of the tipster remains
secret.
A
multiple code number approach is used to accomplish
this.
The
identitying information of the tipster is encrypted
and stripped from the tip by an independent Canadian
company and assigned a unique code number. The tip is
immediately forwarded to Tipsoft's secure server in
the United States. Tipsoft assigns a second unique code
number to the tip and delivers it to the appropriate
law enforcement agency for follow-up.
A
unique code number assigned to the tipster is sent back
to the tipster. The tipster and Police can communicate
by texting back and forth. The tipster is anonymous
the entire time they are communicating with the officers.
Just
How Secure Is Tipsoft?
Anytime
the tipster accesses the WebTip form, the connection
to the Tipsoft server is done through a secure socket
which forces 128 bit encryption of the tip information
passing through that connection. The identity of these
connections are, by design, not being logged by the
Tipsoft server. When a tip is submitted, the data is
immediately encrypted with an AES 256 bit algorithm.
IMPORTANT:
Text
TIP672 plus your tip
TO: CRIMES (274637)
(The
video below starts the tip information with Tip100.
TIP672 should be used instead)
PLEASE
USE TIP672 as Agency ID.
Start tip information with TIP672.
Example: TIP672 John Doe is selling drugs at this specific
location
Tipsoft
has taken great measures to insure the WebTip routine is as
secure as possible and that the tipster's identity is not
traceable. To date, the processes Tipsoft is using have not
been compromised and the encryption algorithms used are the
same as those used by the banking industry and governments
worldwide on a daily basis.
Tipsoft's
transaction server is audited daily by ScanAlert, the world's
largest and most prominent server security auditing firm and
any potential vulnerabilities are immediately flagged and
addressed if found. This level of auditing insures compliance
with some of the highest levels of security possible. Through
ScanAlert, Tipsoft's server is certified Secure & Hacker
Safe and is fully compliant with the following server security
standards: Sarbanes-Oxley
(SOX)
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA)
Gramm Leach Bailey Act (GLBA)
Statement on Auditing Standards Number 70 (SAS-70)
International Standards Organization (ISO) 17799
Europe's EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC
Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents
Act
U.S. Department of Homeland Security's published recommendations
ANDERSON
SOFTWARE, LLC
Kevin
Anderson of Anderson Software is the owner and developer of
Tipsoft. Kevin has been continuously improving the tip management
capabilities of Tipsoft for approximately ten years and hundreds
of thousands of tips have been managed by Tipsoft during that
time. Tipsoft's ability to collect anonymous Web Tips is three
years old. Thousands of Web Tips have successfully been delivered
to Police while keeping the identity of the tipster secret.
Tipsoft's ability to collect anonymous Text Tips began in
January of 2008. Kevin has worked with Crime Stoppers at the
local, state, national and international level for ten years
and is the two-time recipient of the Crime Stoppers International
President’s award for his technical contribution to the
Crime Stoppers mission.
