Sheriffs’ Offices Get Tips Online
The Miami County Sheriff’s Office and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, both based in Ohio, are using secure forms on their Web sites to allow the public to anonymously report crime; since its implementation in Miami County, some 30 anonymous tips, mostly drug related, have been sent by users.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Jeff Busch believes the secure form is more appealing to the public over telephone reports, because people often avoid calling due to caller ID making the report less anonymous.
Roger Kearney of Rhombus Technologies, who maintains the Miami County Sheriff’s Office Web site, asserts that the secure form is even more anonymous than email, since IP addresses of users are not logged. Warren-Clinton Drug Task Force commander John Burke was surprised when an email tip led to the solution of a major drug case in 2003.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Dayton Daily News (08/10/04) P. B3; Scott, Carol .