Got a crime tip? There’s an app for that, and it keeps you anonymous

By
Suzanne Downing
-
15

The Department of Public Safety is increasing its crime-fighting abilities with a new app to help Alaskans view alerts and submit anonymous tips from their smartphone or computer.
 
The AKtips app is available for download for free via the Google Play Store, iTunes App Store, or at dps.alaska.gov/tips.
 
Those without a smartphone can share information with Troopers by sending an anonymous text tip to law enforcement by texting keyword AKTIP and their message/tip to 847411. Anonymous web tips can also be submitted via the department’s website at dps.alaska.gov/tips.
 
“The Alaska Department of Public Safety is committed to protecting Alaskans across our state and making our state a safe place to live and raise a family,” said Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell.  “We believe our new AKtips app and website will help greatly enhance our ability to deliver on our mission by engaging Alaskans to help report crime tips and information securely to law enforcement.”
 
“While not a replacement for calling and reporting emergencies to 911 or reporting non-emergency situations to your local Trooper post, the new AKtips app and texting shortcode enables the public to share an anonymous tip with law enforcement and lets Troopers respond back to create an anonymous two-way conversation,” the notice from DPS said.
 
Similar to the Crime Stoppers program available in certain parts of the state, the AKtips app and anonymous text a tip system is completely anonymous, the department said. The technology promises to remove all identifying information before law enforcement sees the tips.
 
The deployment and development of the AKtips app was funded through a Department of Homeland Security grant. The app was developed by Tip 411.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Rat your neighbor out and never have to face them, mistaken or not. Nothing could go wrong with that.

  2. Ah…Hitler Youth…turn in your parents when you don’t get your way! Anonymously! Or should we call it the Cockrell Youth? Well Amanda Price and Ben Stevens warned us that the Gov wanted to take Public Safety “in a new direction”!!!

    • DPS did this, not the Tall Man – let go of your hate… Careful Suzanne, AJ will want to start commenting under the anonymous tip rule… Does it apply to trolls?

      • Despite the “Tall Man” bending over for the corrupt Troopers and their ‘we can’t be fired’ union, you won’t find my name on the “Recall Duneleavy” petition. So I’m not sure where you get the idea I hate the Gov. What I DO hate is liars and cowards who make anonymous, almost always false, accusations. So what’s not to hate in this development? Thing is, RT, I CAN see the future…been like this since college. You would think, that being able to see the future I would be able to change it. Nope! I have never been able to change anything! In fact, in trying to change things, I have sometimes inadvertently, caused events to happen! Still, I think I have a moral obligation to try. If you saw someone about to get hit by a car wouldn’t you shout a warning??? Let’s make this simple, the Alaska State Troopers are not your friends! They are rabid dogs who need to be put on a leash…and our Governor is apparently not the one to do it! Anyone who doesn’t believe this, look up Trooper Wooten, or Sgt Warren Tanner, or the Palmer Trooper who pulled over YOUR 16 year old daughter and then tried to…well you know. Not “your’ young daughter? ARE YOU SURE? These are the just the incidents we know about…the tip of the iceberg as it were…it could very well have been YOUR loved one already and you just don’t know! Suzanne, RT, MRAK readers, if you don’t HATE evil, then you ARE part of it.

  3. So much for 6A rights. Here’s a reminder… The sixth amendment, as part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees certain rights in all criminal prosecutions. One of the enumerated rights in the 6th Amendment is the right to be confronted with the witnesses against the accused. This right is known as the Confrontation Clause. The confrontation clause guarantees criminal defendants the opportunity to face the prosecution’s witnesses in the case against them and dispute the witnesses’ testimony. This guarantee applies to both statements made in court and statements made outside of court that are offered as evidence during trial.

  5. This is both good and bad. Granted, we all want law enforcement to have all the tools they need. But, to just have anonymous accusers? A girl gets mad at her boyfriend or vice versa, make up a crime and turn it in. They are really going to need competent screeners here.

  6. Thank you Herman Nelson.
    .
    Amendment VI
    .
    “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

    • Agreed. An anonymous tip line is self-evidently unconstitutional. It is an open invitation to fraud.

  7. Probably has something to do making how to steal more vulnerable Alaskan children away from more vulnerable parents and grandparents easier for the corrupt court

    You gotta rethink 10x prior before mandatory reporting any child abuse, neglect, and endangerment to authorities in this state. You are more likely who the family needs missionary intervention from before involving the police and courts.

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