UR BUSTED - Catching bad guys by txt msgs

Police in the 1970s urged citizens to “drop a dime” in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. In an increasing number of cities, tipsters are invited to use their thumbs to identify criminals — by sending text messages from their cell phones.

Police hope teens and others who might not dial a Crime Stoppers hot line will share information with authorities by texting.

“If somebody hears Johnny is going to bring a gun to school, hopefully they’ll text that in,” said Sgt. Brian Bernardi of the Louisville, Ky., Metro Police Department. The city rolled out its text-message tip line in June.

Departments in Boston and Cincinnati began accepting anonymous text tips a year ago. Since then, more than 100 communities have taken that step or plan to. The Internet-based systems route messages through a server that encrypts cell phone numbers before they get to police, making tips virtually impossible to track.

Although Baltimore and Baltimore County police have not turned to texted tips, members of both departments say the technology may become a law enforcement tool here, too.

“It’s something that the department as a whole is interested in,” said Officer Troy Harris of the Baltimore police public affairs office. “Right now we’re at the very early stages of it. We’re looking at it and seeing how it works in other areas. You have to have the technology and manpower to work it.”

Bill Toohey, a Baltimore County police spokesman, said, “At the moment, we are not doing it on an official basis.” However, he “would not be surprised if some of our detectives and officers out in the field use text messaging — they are often a year or two ahead of headquarters.”

In Louisville recently, Bernardi’s computer displayed this text message from a person identified only as Tip563: “someone has vandalized the school van at valor school on bardstown rd in fern creek.”

“It’s obvious that the future of communication is texting,” said Michael Charbonnier, commander of the Boston Police Department’s Crime Stoppers unit. “You look at these kids today and that’s all they’re doing. You see five kids standing on the corner, and they’re texting instead of having a conversation with each other.”

When Boston adopted the system last year, the first text tip yielded an arrest in a New Hampshire killing. In the 12 months that ended June 15, Boston police logged 678 text tips, not far behind the 727 phone tips during that period. One text tip led to the arrest of a notorious suspect in a drug case.

“We’ve gotten some great drug information — specific times, dates, names of suspects, locations, pickup times, license plate numbers,” Charbonnier said. A hearing-impaired man who couldn’t use 911 sent a text message to report domestic violence.

Earl Winterling is past chairman of Metro Crime Stoppers, which runs anonymous tip lines in Baltimore, Baltimore County and five other Maryland counties. He plans to attend a conference this month sponsored by Anderson Software, a leading provider of texting technology. Winterling said that if the program seems viable and affordable, he’ll suggest Metro Crime Stoppers put it to use.

Just like callers to a crime hot line, text tipsters can collect rewards for significant information. It’s done with the cooperation of banks that hand over the cash — no questions asked — to people who present a code issued by police.

Sarah Coss, 18, an incoming freshman at the University of Tampa, exchanges about 6,000 text messages a month with friends. She thinks people who use text messaging every day will become more likely to report crimes that way. “It might take a while for people to know about it and get more comfortable with it, and for people to know it’s really anonymous and they’re not going to get in trouble,” she said.

Anne Riley of The Daily Record contributed to this story.

---

Send tips without texting:

Baltimore City:
Emergencies: 911
Non-emergencies: 311
Metro Crime Stoppers: 410-276-8888
Illegal gun tip hot line: 410-685-GUNS
Drug activity hot line: 410-666-DRUG
www.baltimorepolice.org/contact-us/send-us-an-email

Baltimore County:
Emergencies: 911
Non-emergencies 410-887-2222
Metro Crime Stoppers: 866-7-LOCKUP
Vice/narcotics hot line: 410-887-1870
Illegal gun tip hot line: 410-887-GUNS
Terrorism hot line: 800-492-TIPS
Gang hot line: 410-823-0785
www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/police/index.html