The Suffolk County Police Department has announced a new effort to receive more anonymous crime tips with greater ease from local residents – via text message.
The police department's new "Text-A-Tip" service aims to serve as a confidential way for Suffolk County residents to send crime details or tips to Crime Stoppers without any recourse. All submissions, just as calls to Crime Stoppers, remain completely anonymous.
Text-A-Tip works just like any other messaging service on your phone – residents can simply text their message containing tips or information on a crime to 274637 with SCPD in the body of the text. The message and information is kept strictly confidential, according to the police.
Leg. Wayne Horsley (D–Babylon) helped establish the new service through legislation he sponsered to help the Crime Stoppers hotline take in new ways of receiving tips.
"These programs enhance communication between Suffolk County and our residents,” Horsley said in a release.
Suffolk County has also continued to push its other text messaging services – Code Red, an emergency and general text notification servce from the county's Fire, Rescue & Emergency Services; and NIXLE, another service from the SCPD that includes crime and traffic accident reports.
“I applaud FRES and SCPD for providing a quick, easy way to keep our community connected to crucial information in real-time,” Horsley said.
“I encourage residents to stay informed through NIXLE and CODE RED and to help keep our community safe by texting confidential, vital tips to SCPD through TEXT-A-TIP.”
Sign up for the Code Red service here; sign up for the NIXLE service here.
