ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Officials with the Atlanta Police Department said they’ve recently rolled out another method to report crimes in communities. It’s called the Crime Stoppers QR Code.
“It is something that we have re-instituted,” said Sgt. James White, with the Crime Stoppers Unit of the Atlanta Police Department. “Essentially, what we’re trying to do is make Crime Stoppers as accessible as possible to the public. Be that through social media, be that through the tip line. Be that through going online. The QR code is just another medium that allows the public to have access and it will take you directly to the entry site so that you can put in whatever information you have about the incident or about whatever investigation you’re trying to assist with,” Sgt. White said.
“Anything we can do to assist our community members, to make sure the public has access to give us information is imperative because being successful as a law enforcement agency really hinges on our partnership with the community. We cannot do and succeed in all the things that we need to succeed in without that partnership,” Sgt. White said.
Right now, the main way to leave an anonymous tip has always been by calling the tip line at 404-577-TIPS.
“They call 404-577-TIPS (8477) or you can go online to stopcrimeATL.org and report it,” Sgt. White said. “In terms of what actually happens when they call the tip line, one of our operators will answer and it’s completely anonymous. We don’t track your phone number. We have no identifying information that we ask you. You just supply us with whatever information you may have,” he said.
According to the Atlanta Police Foundation website, it manages the Metrowide program that serves over 100 jurisdictions.
“We service multiple jurisdictions. I think it’s over 100 and that’s in the surrounding area. I know for sure we service Dekalb County Police, Gwinnett County Police, Cherokee County, Sandy Springs,” Sgt. White said. “We’re servicing all those different jurisdictions and we’re constantly looking to reach out to other areas that may want to participate so that we can supply them with that information,” he said. “It’s beneficial for us to have a single tip line number. It lets the public know who to contact.
Sgt. White said they rolled out the QR code last week on the Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta Facebook page. All you have to do is take out your camera on your phone, point it to the screen, and click the link that pops up, which will take you to an entry form to fill out.
“The Crime Stoppers official QR code will take you directly to the P3 entry website,” Sgt. White said.
“We do not take any kind of information that tracks any person that reports to crime stoppers. The only way that you would be able to potentially identify through that is if you’ve identified yourself,” Sgt. White said. “That’s not something that the Crime Stoppers does,” he said. “Protecting the anonymity of people that are trying to report to Crime Stoppers is the most important part of my role in this position. We take that very seriously,” he said.
People can use the code now, however, officials said they will continue to work on pushing it out in more spaces.
“There will potentially be more rollouts going forward I think like I said, anything that we can do to make sure that the public has access to Crime Stoppers and provide information to law enforcement is really critical. We need our community members. They need us and we want to make sure that line of communication is always open so that we can get information out there and get potentially dangerous people off the streets,” Sgt. White added.
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