Tipsters’ Tips

 

 

MM900356797So, you have information about a crime and don’t want to get involved, but you do want to help law enforcement “catch the crook”.  Crime Line is the vehicle for you to provide that  information anonymously and securely.

What kind of information is useful to law enforcement?  As a rule of thumb is that there is never too much information provided in a tip.  Keep in mind that tips generally cannot be presented evidence in court and law enforcement is limited to how they can act on them unless they can be corroborated.

We’ll use two tips on “drug activity” to illustrate:

Tip#1:  “I saw a guy at a beach access who looked shady.  Sometimes people would drive up to him and then drive away after a minute.  I think he’s selling drugs.”

You may well have witnessed a drug transaction, but with the lack of detail and information, it would be very difficult for the police to investigate this much further.

Tip#2: I saw a white guy, about 6′ tall and maybe 30 years old, a little on the heavy side, at the Ocean Bay Beach Access who I think is selling drugs.  He always wears a Yankee’s baseball cap.  He hangs around the
bath house and sometimes cars will drive up to him.  He’ll lean in the window for a few seconds, pull something out of his pocket and hand it to someone in the car, and then the car drives off.  The cars all have local OBX tags and it looks like mostly younger kids in the cars.  This is usually going on just after school lets out, around 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.  I have seen this happen three times in the past week.

The second example shows an eye for details and gives the police information that they can interdependently corroborated and take action on.

While drug activity is always of interest to law enforcement, tips can be submitted on any sort of crime you may have information about.  In the past, Crime Line has received tips on everything from stolen property to child abuse.  On the submission form there is an area where  you can leave contact information, but you do not have to.  Even if you do, your information will be treated with the utmost confidence by law enforcement.  The contact information just makes it easier to reach out to tipsters when they have received a reward for their assistance.

 

COLLECTING YOUR REWARD

money pic 3Once your tip lead to an arrest or recovery of stolen property, the Crime Line committee considers the case and determines an appropriate award amount.  If you left some means of communication when providing your tip, then a representative of Crime Line will reach out to you to tell you how to claim your reward.  If you did not leave contact information, you will need to check the “Rewards to Be Paid” section of the web site to see which crimes were solved through tips to Crime Line.  If the crime you assisted law enforcement with is there, you will need to contact Crime Line to let us know how we can get you your money.  Your privacy and anonymity is a top priority with Crime Line and any personal contact information you provide will be kept strictly confidential.