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Text messages could be used to report crime

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Reporting crimes and suspicious activity could become easier in Dane County if funding allows the Madison Area Crime Stoppers to add an anonymous text messaging program.  

In addition to contacting Madison police by phone or e-mail, this new method could compel more people to report illicit behavior by giving them another way to contact police. 

Madison Police Officer and Crime Stoppers Coordinator Paul Jacobsen said this would help increase county safety because the number of people who use text messaging as a means of communication is rapidly growing.  

“It would just be a benefit for people to contact the police anonymously if they wanted to report crimes, information or suspicious incidents,” Jacobsen said.  

According to a survey conducted by University of Wisconsin Division of Information Technology, 75 percent of UW students who own cell phones use text messaging.  

The low-profile style of texting could be more convenient in certain dangerous situations, Jacobsen said. This program would not be a replacement for calling the police but rather another option for sending anonymous tips.

“Well, right now it’s really being developed as an extension of what’s already happening,” Jacobsen said. “It’s like the idea that you have telephone and e-mail, but really, the next way that people are beginning to communicate are through text messages. So it’s really just a natural evolvement of that process.” 

UW recently launched its WiscAlerts system, a program that sends out safety warnings to students, which could complement Crime Stoppers’ new system because students are now able to receive and send emergency messages.  

A string of recent robberies on campus has increased safety concerns among UW students, administrators and city officials. But Jacobsen said while both services will improve safety, they serve different purposes and goals.  

Presently, no other Crime Stoppers in the state of Wisconsin offers a texting tip line.  

UW spokesperson John Lucas said he is interested in what the Crime Stoppers is doing, but said he has limited information on the specifics of the plan.

“It seems like anything they offer that would make it easier for people to send in tips would probably be a positive thing for that program,” Lucas said.  “We’re still just waiting to hear all the details and what they’re planning to offer.”