Communities Against Substance Abuse (CASA) has introduced an “eTip” texting service for Sagadahoc County, Harpswell and Brunswick. eTip allows community members to help make their community a safer place by anonymously reporting underage drinking, illegal drug use or other crimes via a text message, smart phone app or the web. eTip is for everyone to use, but we especially hope young people in our area will take advantage of this service; they are knowledge hubs that often encounter immense amounts of information regarding illegal and unsafe activities their peers are engaging in.
The problem that dispatchers constantly encounter is citizens who call in to the communications center to give information but are hesitant to give details because of the concern that their names and information will be given to whomever they are reporting.
The eTip program ensures that anyone with information can anonymously send in “tips” regarding illegal activities big or small, and no one, not even the dispatcher, will know who is giving the tip.
In the communications center, we have encountered numerous incidents that could have been avoided or had different outcomes had law enforcement known about them ahead of time. There have been calls with individuals who have overdosed or passed out and because there are some underage kids at the party, or illegal activity occurring, people are reluctant to make the call for help and be labeled as the person who “called the cops” until the situation becomes life or death.
There are missing and runaway children every day, and often their friends want to look out for their welfare while remaining anonymous.
Bomb threats have been a problem in schools for a long time. When they continuously occur, money and resources are used to make sure the school is safe.
Students need to understand that this behavior is not acceptable. By taking a stand and reporting activities, they can make a big difference in the quality of a school. We hope that this anonymous tool will help them feel more comfortable taking this stand.
More and more people are using text messages to communicate and our local police departments are putting in the effort to take advantage of it. Text messaging is a discrete and easy way to relay information.
We hope that when paired with the encrypted system ensuring that “tipsters” remain anonymous, people will feel more inclined to inform us of what is going on. Any information is better than no information. eTip was originally adopted as a way to increase the reporting of underage drinking. With the summer season upon us, there are more opportunities for unsupervised young people to drink.
Many of us know that drinking and driving is a serious offense and can lead to severe punishments, as well as injuries that could be life threatening. What we, and our teens, often forget is that underage drinking is also the leading cause of teenage injuries and deaths due to drowning, burns, falls, poisonings and fights.
It is important for parents and teens to know that there are multiple ways to report anything they do not feel is right, and by reporting, they could be preventing injuries or saving lives.
They also could be saving someone’s future. Many juveniles need to be reminded of the impact their actions now will have on their future goals. Employers are becoming picky about the people they employ.
More companies are asking for a criminal background check before offering positions and even one black mark could stand in the way of a wonderful career.
By making it easier for our community to report underage drinking — and increasing the number of teens who avoid drinking because they think they will be caught, we hope to curb the amount of underage drinking that is occurring and decrease the number of assaults, overdoses,
OUI’s and arrests that it often leads to.
Tips can be submitted three ways: text messaging, on the website directly or through Smartphone apps.
To text message your tip, send “eTip” along with your tip to 274637 (CRIMES). For Android or iPhone users, download the free TipSubmit mobile app.
To submit a tip online, visit www.midcoastcasa.org or your local police department.
All tips are encrypted and immediately sent to the Sagadahoc County Communications Center who then passes the information to the appropriate agency. The dispatcher who receives the initial tip can communicate with the tipster through the messages anonymously to get the most accurate information, and tipsters will receive a code to follow the status of their tip.
Rebecca Blier is a native of Brunswick where she currently lives with her 3-year-old daughter. She is the newest dispatcher at Sagadahoc County Communications Center.
letters@timesrecord.com
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