hearsay- can I report a crime I heard about?

[kanderson]

my friend told me about a horrible offense but he heard it from someone else who is witness but their family is keeping it under wraps, my friend confronted the offender who confessed and threatened his life. The offender isn't mentally stable, my friend told me all about this in confidence and I don't want to break his trust but I'm very concerned because there is a crime taking place that is harming not just the victim but her whole family. The crime(s) took place in MN, my friend and I live in Miami FL.
I've been begging him to convince the person he heard it from to report something, but this person is in a difficult financial situation and by reporting it he may become homeless.
In any case, I have been tormented with this knowledge for a little over a week now and I finally decided to try and do something, although my friend would never speak to me again if he found out.

In any case, everything I know comes from someone else, who I trust most intimately and is in a very very unstable psychological state.

The crime(s) take(s) place in Minnesota, but I'm in Florida. I don't know what I can do since I'm not even in the same state. If I can do anything.

I'm scared if action isn't taken soon, it will be too late.

[retdetsgt]

You can probably report it, but your friend will know you did. What the police do depends on the type of crime and the the age of the victim.

You need to call the police in Minnesota though to report it

[TEXASCOP]

Here in Texas, at my agency we do welfare checks all the time from anonymous callers.

[ParadeRest]

I realize you're intentionally leaving stuff out - age, offense, etc. but if you don't tell us then there's little advice we can give.

If it's something child-abuse related, then I'm sure it's very easy to make a report, even anonymous. If not, then it might be more difficult or impossible, depending on the local pd's policy.