The Erie County Sheriff’s Office is introducing a new smartphone app that allows the public to send in anonymous tips.
The department has partnered with anonymous tip reporting platform tip411 to offer ErieCo Sheriff, which leaders say will enhance engagement and connection with county residents.
“We are thrilled to partner with tip411 and offer our residents an even easier way to connect with our deputies,” Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said in a statement. “Strong partnerships and relationships with the community are necessary to provide effective public safety.”
Through the new ErieCo Sheriff app, people can report anonymous tips and sign up for news and alerts from the sheriff’s office.
While those submitting tips can remain fully anonymous if they wish, tipsters can also leave their name and contact information if they’d like a follow up from the sheriff’s department.
“We're always trying to increase our availability to the communities that we serve, and this is just another step in that process that significantly improves the public access to the sheriff's office,” Lt. Jeremy Lehning of the Erie County Sheriff’s office told BTPM NPR.
Tips submitted through the app are constantly monitored by administrators within the sheriff’s office and they are then processed to appropriate divisions, Lehning explained. He said the tip line improves on the speed and accessibility of information that residents can send to, and receive from, the sheriff’s office. The app also lets users customize which types of notifications they’d like to receive.
“The nice thing about tip411 is it's going to be the quickest and most up to date way to get information and notifications from the Erie County Sheriff's Office and as far as its accessibility to the general public, it is fully and completely customizable.” Lehning said. “You can actually pick the notifications that you want to have and the notifications that you don't want to have.”
The app will cost $13,200 to operate for the next two years and it is in the county budget, according to a spokesperson from the Erie County Sheriff’s Department.
In addition to benefitting the community, the app is expected to benefit the sheriff’s office as well by providing data that can be used to determine where to direct resources in particular areas of concern.
“We're taking a look at not only the complaint itself, but we're taking a look at where the complaint is coming from – what geographic area it’s coming from, and if we're getting a number of different complaints from the same, say, couple of mile radius, we're going to pay attention to that and that's definitely going to be noted,” Lehning said.
Authorities from the sheriff’s department say that while the app can be used to report suspicious activity and criminal mischief, residents are always advised to call or text 911 first in the case of an imminent emergency.
The app can be downloaded for free via the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. Residents without a smartphone can send anonymous tips by texting “ESCO” and their message to 847411 (tip411).
