As discussed in an earlier blog post, TipNow is an anonymous reporting service that provides communities with a way to communicate concerns about individuals with the potential to commit violent acts in schools, government facilities, and the general public. Law enforcement agencies, school leadership, and officials have been working with TipNow to encourage individuals to share vital information that could prevent public tragedies from occurring.
This short video showcases an example of TipNow’s contribution in a $3 Million dollar drug bust:
ICU Technologies has had a relationship with TipNow for almost three years because we share their mission to make communities safer. We leverage TipNow services with our own security solutions to merge the power of technology with the insights unique to interpersonal relationships for a more effective and total solution.
It’s clear that technology alone cannot prevent 100% of tragedies; there is a very real role that we play as individuals as well. That’s true within the TipNow tool itself, and it’s true through the implementation and adoption of the tool within your community – it’s the PEOPLE who make this work.
Here are three ways you can get the most out of TipNow to create a safer public environment.
1. Loop In Law Enforcement
One of the first groups to discuss your TipNow process with is local law enforcement (in the event that the initial team is NOT law enforcement). This is an opportunity to provide contact information, learn about their procedures, and ensure everyone is on the same page about what happens when a threat becomes clear. Your leadership, the internal resource officers, and the external police should all be using the tool the same way, and this conversation is vital to ensure that happens. It also gives you valuable insight about how the flow of information will work best and the opportunity to practice and train in the event of a violent emergency.
2. Ensure Your Stakeholders Have the Info They Need
The next group to educate about the value and benefits are the key stakeholders of the organizations that have a vested interest in leveraging TipNow. This includes superintendents, college deans, and city administrators. Our deployment training shows you how to use the tool completely and how to generate the right reports that can help you work with law enforcement to identify important trends and patterns. One of the most important things we do is help you understand how to define success. Some leaders look for metrics like a specific number of reported incidents, but that’s not necessarily realistic. The most important factor is whether or not the right people are consistently monitoring and analyzing the data available to know immediately when a threat exists.
3. Educate The Public
As we mentioned earlier, PEOPLE are who make the TipNow service work, so you need to make sure your community is well aware of your adoption of TipNow and how they can use it to help be eyes and ears on the ground when it comes to potential threats. We provide educational materials that contain pertinent information about how to use the tool, what happens when a threat is reported (i.e. that a SWAT team doesn’t go straight to the person they’re reporting), and how to communicate its value to the people who could be using it to save lives. For TipNow to work most effectively, the public needs to know that their reporting is 100% anonymous, that it’s a third-party tool, and that investigations are based on patterns of behavior and not single incidents. This combination of information helps encourage users to leverage the tool, and the higher the usage rates of the tool, the more success you’ll experience.
If you would like to learn more about TipNow from an ICU public safety security specialist, schedule a demo here to get the 411 on how it can work with your government agency.
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