The crime reporting site, Crime Stoppers, has released an app named P3tips where students, parents and faculty can send in anonymous tips about concerns on campus.
The goal of the app is to encourage students to “see something, say something,” in hopes of making the campus a safer place.
“Let’s say [a student] knows about a fight going on or someone [is] gonna bring a weapon on campus [the app] is a way for someone to say something without feeling like someone’s gonna know who they are,” school resource officer Robert Martinez said. “It’s all anonymous so it gives them the avenue to put that on there. Then we get the tip and we can figure out what’s going on.”
The app can be used for reporting weapons, drugs, criminal activity, bullying, harassment or threats to campus. Once a tip is submitted either an SRO or someone from administration will investigate depending on the content.
“The response is immediate,” principal Stacia Snyder said. “[Once you’ve filed a report] you can go back into the system and check it. It can be a back-and-forth conversation.”
On the Crime Stoppers website, and the P3tips app, reporters are required to input a description of the incident, choose a type of offense from a drop-down menu and put the city/state of occurrence. Other information such as names, exact locations and whether one is interested in receiving a reward can also be added but is optional.
If a reported tip turns out to be good, the reporter will receive a reward.
“I’ve seen kids make $2,000 just because they walked into the restroom and they saw something,” Martinez said. “We find out that it’s a good tip and that’s $300 here, $300 there. Some kids have made some money on this program.”
The ultimate goal of crime stoppers is to maintain safety and security on campus. The hope with the new app is to make reporting crimes quicker and more accessible.
“We want our kids safe,” Snyder said. “We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can not only to keep kids safe but for kids to feel safe. If a kid knows that they can get on the app and give a report then they can know that they’re doing their part to make our campus a good place.”
