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WeTiP
The People's Voice Against Crime!
By: Susan Aguilar, WeTiP CEO
Click here to submit a tip online!
WeTiP is a national nonprofit
organization, staffing tip operators that take anonymous tips from
all 50 states including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. For over
31 years, WeTiP has taken over 390,000 anonymous calls. Many of
these tips have included crime information concerning schools. The
WeTiP crime hotline has been designed for students and school staff
members who know about a crime, but are afraid to tell anyone. When
someone calls WeTiP, no one asks them who they are of where they
live. The WeTiP operator asks some questions to find out about the
crime and who committed it. The operator will give the caller a
number so that they can call back if they find out more information.
The WeTiP school safety hotlines are answered by bilingual tip
operators, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are taken on all
crimes affecting schools and the communities surrounding schools.
All calls are anonymous, not just confidential. No one will ever
know who made the call...Not us... Not ever! After the call is
taken, a case number is assigned to the tipster. If they have more
information, they can call back and give that number to add more
information to their tip. The tipster is then asked if they are
interested in a reward if there is an arrest and a conviction. If
they are interested in a reward, they are given a fictitious code
name. This is the name to give when they pick up their reward. If
the person who was turned in gets arrested and is found guilty, then
a reward of up to $1,000 is offered to the tipster. The reward is
paid at the post office chosen by the person who gave the tip. They
will receive the cash reward money by giving the code name that was
given them when the tip was first given.
The WeTiP program deals with all crimes concerning all types of
public entities. WeTiP has had a direct impact on crime particularly
in municipalities, housing authorities and schools nationwide. The
WeTiP municipality program encourages cities, counties, towns and
villages to take a “total community involvement” approach to crime.
WeTiP works hand in hand with law enforcement, city council members,
members of the chamber of commerce, civic organizations and local
media to make the WeTiP program a resource to members of the
community. WeTiP has not only helped communities to capture local
criminals but has had a deterrent effect on crime which has caused a
direct decrease in crime incidents overall.
The WeTiP School Safety Program deals with: School arson fires,
weapons on campus, child molestation and pornography, drug sales and
trafficking at school, gang violence, graffiti, violent crimes,
vandalism, vehicle theft, school property theft, threats and other
malicious activity.
WeTiP is providing the crime hotline service specifically for
liability insurance carriers for schools nationwide. This program
has reduced property and liability losses significantly in the
schools that utilize the program. Proper utilization of the program
depends upon education and understanding how WeTiP can be used as a
crime deterrent as well as a tool for crimes that have already
occurred. Member benefits involve training law enforcement, city
administrators and school administrators about WeTiP and how it is a
deterrent to crime incidents and property losses. The benefits of
the program also include ongoing information regarding crime trends,
crime reports, information on criminals and hyperlinks to the WeTiP
website from your current city website.
The WeTiP website can be found at
www.wetip.com. This
information system will provide training, program information and
communication for the growing number of community members involved
with WeTiP. Designated risk managers, law enforcement,
insurance administrators, and school police officers receive
specific, protected information regarding sensitive crime tip
information.
A retired law enforcement officer and community leader founded WeTiP
in 1972. WeTiP, a 501 (C)3, non-profit corporation, started in
southern California. In 1973, WeTiP expanded to offer the hotline to
the entire state of California and in 1982 WeTiP stretched the
program across the United States and has continued to operate
nationally for 21 years.
The WeTiP phenomenon has affected more lives than anyone will ever
know. Thousands of crimes have been prevented because citizens got
involved and anonymously gave information to one of the four WeTiP
hotlines that may have prevented tragedies as well.
The City of Watertown established a WeTiP Program back in November
of 1998 through a generous donation by the Watertown Chamber of
Commerce and Member Businesses. Every year since then, the Chamber
of Commerce has continued to support WeTiP with their financial
contributions. WeTiP has proven very successful by leading to
suspects, then arrests and finally convictions on crimes that may
have never been solved. Callers “will” remain completely anonymous,
and that’s one reason why WeTiP works. It works for you the
homeowner, the business owner, the teacher, and the grandparent and
so on down the line. Watertown is safer because of WeTiP.
We ask anyone with information about a crime to call the police
department immediately or call WeTiP at 1-800-78CRIME. Your call
could be worth up to $1000. Recently a call such as this led to the
arrest of a 17 year old Watertown male who had entered the Watertown
Health and Wellness Center. This subject then damaged contents of
the HAWC to the tune of over $50,000! Without help from an anonymous
caller, this case may not have been solved. In fact, when the
17-year was questioned and learned of the WeTiP call he replied, “I
got WeTipped, I hate WeTiP!” This is just one example of how WeTiP
is working.
Watertown has had success and as the saying goes, “success breeds
success” and because of this in 2000 Jefferson County joined forces
in fighting crime with WeTiP.
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