Question about "anonymous tips".

[harmonica]

A lot of stories I read in the paper, it is often said that the cops were tipped off by an anonymous source, which leads to an arrest, or leads to a clue. But do the cops ever find out who these sources are? Or do they find out easily and yet it's still listed as anonymous in the paper? Cops of course would wanna find out who the person is, and see if the tip is credible and where it came from. Or do these sources often go through truly untraceable methods to remain secret from the police?

[scott715us]

A lot of stories I read in the paper, it is often said that the cops were tipped off by an anonymous source, which leads to an arrest, or leads to a clue. But do the cops ever find out who these sources are? Or do they find out easily and yet it's still listed as anonymous in the paper? Cops of course would wanna find out who the person is, and see if the tip is credible and where it came from. Or do these sources often go through truly untraceable methods to remain secret from the police?

It varies. When folks call into crimestoppers or other tip lines, they may get a name from the person or they may not. Police also use confidential informants (CIs) to gain information about criminal activity. There are some guidelines set by the courts in order to obtain warrants based solely on anonymous tips or CIs. Some are more restrictive than others. It all depends on the courts of the applicable state. For instance, in TN we can conduct a traffic stop based on a passer-by's statement if the involved traffic offense is creating a significant safety risk. When it comes to warrants based on Confidential Informants, Tennessee (along with just a few other states) holds a higher standard than most. We have to go by what's called the Aguilar/Spinelli two-prong test - #1 We have to show (to issuing judge) CI is reliable (i.e. past history) and #2 - how the information was obtained and if it is credible.

In most cases, tips come in and officers may or may not follow up on them depending on the substance of the tip itself. You could have a tipster call in about drug activity at a certain house. The police set up surveillance, see quite a bit of evidence to suggest drug activity, and go from there. There is obviously more that goes into it, but you get the idea.

[retdetsgt]

Depends on the severity of the crime.

You can call my department all day on with anonymous tips on drug dealers and at best, we try to be polite. That's about all that happens.

If it's a serious crime such as an armed robbery, rape or homicide, we take it more seriously, depending on what the info is and how credible it sounds. To be honest, it's extremely rare that an anonymous tip provides much to a case.

[greg72982]

It We have to go by what's called the Aguilar/Spinelli two-prong test - #1 We have to show (to issuing judge) CI is reliable (i.e. past history) and #2 - how the information was obtained and if it is credible.

It could because I'm not on much sleep but how are you supposed to know the info is credible if you haven't been able to search yet (hence why you want the warrant).

Unless they mean credible in terms of #1, but that's just redundant.

[Kimble]

Or do these sources often go through truly untraceable methods to remain secret from the police?

Jason Borne isn't doing a lot of anonymous tips to police to solve crimes... or is he?

Police can track phone numbers, emails, handwriting samples, and practically every communication source available to the general public, so I think you're living in the world of make believe if you think police aren't able to figure out who an anonymous source is if they have to.

To be honest, it's extremely rare that an anonymous tip provides much to a case.

Precisely! I've worked multiple cases with informants where we (the police) kept their identity anonymous outside our agency, and these are often good cases when we can cooberate their info with other sources that doen't reveal their identity. On the other hand, I've got a case right now that is an anonymous tip of bribery of a USG employee that is likely not going anywhere due to the fact that the "witnesses" listed in the anonymous tip aren't cooberating the tipster's info (so either these "witnesses" are co-conspirators with the suspect or the info we receive was bad). Either way, since the tipster is anonymous (and the crime isn't a violent felony that would warrant taking further steps to uncover who the tipster really is) we don't have a means to gather further details from them to help the case. Anonymous tips like this are often crap if they don't immediately develop a good lead because you can't go the the complainant for further clarification or additional leads.

[Legoate]

Just because a tip is "anonymous" doesn't mean we don't know who it is, we just aren't releasing who it is to the public.

[harmonica]

Yeah. And even if you call crime stoppers, the police could probably get info from them I'm guessing, unless crime stoppers has a policy to keep all of their callers confidential, even from the police. Have you ever had any anonymous calls, on important felonies, that actually made themselves untraceable, to verify?

[retdetsgt]

Yeah. And even if you call crime stoppers, the police could probably get info from them I'm guessing, unless crime stoppers has a policy to keep all of their callers confidential, even from the police. Have you ever had any anonymous calls, on important felonies, that actually made themselves untraceable, to verify?

I never had one where the caller wanted to be anonymous and their info was worth tracking them down.

People who have real info and are concerned enough to contact us are just about always are willing to step forward when push comes to shove. Also, with Crime Stoppers, etc., if you want to get the reward money, you have to come forward and be willing to testify if necessary.

But again, people who truly have good info rarely contact us just for the reward money. There's something about the crime that bothers them and they want the bad guy behind bars.

[Kimble]

Have you ever had any anonymous calls, on important felonies, that actually made themselves untraceable, to verify?

Either you're not reading all the responses you're getting or you're not living in reality if you believe it's easy and the technology is widely available for someone to provide truly "untraceable" information to the police. As I said before, practically every communication source available to the general public (i.e. phone numbers, emails, handwriting, etc.) can be traced if it's needed. Not always instantly, but there's almost always a trail of some sort.

[harmonica]

Well yeah but if you wanted to I'm guessing you could say... go to a payphone, call 911, speak in a different voice, while being recorded, where gloves and a disguise if the phone is being videotaped by a security camera. I'm not cop, but perhaps something like that could be untraceable?

[Kimble]

Well yeah but if you wanted to I'm guessing you could say... go to a payphone, call 911, speak in a different voice, while being recorded, where gloves and a disguise if the phone is being videotaped by a security camera. I'm not cop, but perhaps something like that could be untraceable?

Harmonica, I'm not asking this to be rude, I'm genuinely curious, are you being seen by a psychological professional for any issues you've had? I ask because so many of your posts seem to be way out in left field, and border on the overly paranoid.

[BP348]

Not that I'll post it here in public but I can think of at least one way to leave an Anonymous tip if you really wanted to.