Police Tip-lines

A friend of mine was murdered when I was 17. The case was never closed. I found out some information 5 years later & called the so called "anaomyous" tip line from my work. They still took information -wanted to know everything I was willing to give. However, I was on the on the 2nd line - which calls would automaticlly roll over to if the 1st line was busy. The whole time I was on the call - the 1st line rang but when the girl I worked with answered - there was no one there. I could tell he cupped the phone as if talking to someone then asked me "Are you calling from your work?" the SOB has traced the call. I called him an asshole & drove right to the station and gave him a piece of my mind for them tracing "anaomous" calls. I had nothing to lose - I wasn't hiding - I just didn't know how to go about re-opening the case.
/rant

sorry - I don't think that'll help. I never said it before to anyone. I'd hate for someone not to report something they knew for fear of exposing themselves for whatever reason.

I guess for your questions - it would totally depend on the officer. You can make them do whatever you want. You'd be right on any account.

Tip lines have rewards for information leading to a conviction. The key phrase, of course is "leading to a conviction".
If you are just needing to clear your mind, call the tip line and tell what you know then hang up.
If you want a reward, be prepared to give more information.

The anonymous tip does not mean that you don't tell THEM who you are, they mean that you will remain anonymous to the media or any other casual query.

You can still be supeonaed and required to provide a statement.

EdCarroll said:

I have a question a bout the anonymous police Tip-lines.

In this book a victim is found dead in the bathroom of an office building on a Navy base. The Navy quickly rules it an industrial accident, but it turns out that a witness was talking to the victim when she was attacked and heard everything (including the victim identifying the killer by name). It took five days for the witness to figure it all out and tell her friend.

The call would be along the lines of: My friend witnessed a murder five days ago, but the police have ruled it an accident. So my questions are:

What information would the witness have to give? (Would the operator interrogate her or would he be more courteous)? They would ask for as much information as possible -- name & address for sure, phone number and, in canada we also tried to get DOB -- as to how courteous the operator would be, that would depend entirely on the attitude of both parties at the time. I was always polite because it gets you no further to be rude, although I have heard of some people being rude. You have to understand the difference, though of rude and busy/distracted -- if they are dealing with another current emergency (cause many of them do deal with more than one thing at a time) it may seen distracted. The phone systems are also set up so that you have a lot of the information already, and the call is automatically recorded.
Would they take her information even though the case is closed? Absolutely they would take everything she could give. You never say no to information, and it is always followed up on
Would they humor her not file the tip? It would be recorded, so it would be a chore to pretend it didn't happen or to sluff it off, although I suppose some might try.

Thank you for any assistance,

Ed

Click to expand...

My experience was in Canada with the RCMP -- I'm sure in other places they deal with it differently. The operator has to try to get the information if the person wants the money -- the police have to be able to contact the person again. Plus the information given has to be substantiated and that doesn't happen in just a few minutes. rtilry is right (as far as my experience) with everything he says. If you are doing it just because you have information and to do the right thing, you can just report what you know and hang up. The information will still be followed up on.

No, a call-taker would not interrogate an anonymous caller.
The caller can give as little or as much info as the caller wishes to give.
Info is taken on closed cases.

However, it is an important distinction that this crime occurred on a military facility. Chose your locale, but in the would US military world, this be investigated by the Navy not local police. Navy might well not have a tip line. Further, military personnel have much more defined rules of conduct than civilians. Is the witness friend who heard the murder on the phone military or a spouse/ visitor? Is the person who knows the witness military?

EdCarroll said:

I should have clarified: It is about a transit bus driver who solves mysteries by piecing together bits of conversation that he overhears while driving.

When one of Bob Muldoon's regular passengers is found dead in the admiral's head the Navy rules it an industrial accident, but when another passenger becomes an "ear witness" and insists it was murder, nobody believes her—except her bus driver.
Rumors, and suspects, begin piling up and Bob enlists the help of Boats, a retired sailor who knows everyone, to separate truth from scuttlebutt, and catch the killer before he boards Bob's bus. The story takes place in Norfolk, Virginia (where everyone is either a current sailor, former sailor or dependant of a sailor.) and this route happens to go through the base.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's a great plot! And, I really like the idea of a transit driver who solves crimes by eavesdropping!!

In my former job, I had to answer our county 'secret witness' line. I would try to get as much information as possible from those who called by asking a long series of questions. The ONLY questions I didn't press to give were ones that directly identified the caller if they had stated they wished to be anonymous.

But there would have to be questions to help confirm the validity of the call and information. If it were something immediate, I'd call our dispatch center to start relaying information and if it were more like what you were talking about, it went to our detective division. However, I believe and agree with a previous poster that the military would handle the case, not the local police. They simply would *not* have jurisdiction for a military officer murdered on a military base.

Rabe...

Our 911 center also answers the "Silent Observer" line for our two counties. We have a form to fill out and no, we never really interrogate the caller, though we'll ask questions to clarify the statement. The line is not recorded nor can the call be traced from there. In fact, the phone is a pretty old push button thing...not at all like the fancy ones we answer 911 calls on.

If a caller does not wish to give their name, we have no way to know what it is. However, we ask the caller to give us a 6 digit letter/number combo and note it on the form so if the information does lead to an arrest, they can claim their reward. Of course, at that point, it's required they come forward and provide their name if they want the reward.

And never, never, never would we "humor" a caller out of filing a tip. NEVER. And trust me, we've gotten some pretty stupid frickin' information before. But we take the information and pass it along. No matter how asinine it might be.