Crime Stoppers is going online

The Webster County Crime Stoppers is going high tech.

Residents can now call, e-mail and post tips on Facebook. Officer Anita Guthrie, Fort Dodge Police Department, said the calls they receive from residents calling Crime Stoppers have helped solve many cases and have led to the arrest of criminals from their ''most wanted'' list. But she worries there are still those who have information about crimes that may not be sharing it with police.

''People who may have information on crimes could have been to jail before and are afraid their voice will be recognized if they call in,'' Guthrie said.

Giving the options to send an e-mail or post on a Facebook page could help police get the needed information for solve a crime.

Facebook has also been known to be a popular networking Web site for teens.

''I've talked to a very intelligent young woman who had information about a crime and wanted to help police but didn't know how to do it,'' said Larry Hedlund, special agent for the Division of Criminal Investigation. ''She had never even heard of Crime Stoppers.''

To reach a younger generation who may be willing to help solve crimes, the Webster County Crime Stoppers is looking into adding a text messaging service with the Fort Dodge Police Department's phones in the very near future.

''The captain's phone is carried 24/7 by officers,'' Guthrie said. ''If someone witnesses a crime they may not want to call the police but they might be willing to walk down the block and send a text message.''

The Fort Dodge Police Department, with the help of Hedlund, is looking into a program called TipSoft SMS. The program is designed to allow a person to anonymously text information to a participating phone. The application allows the person and the investigator to have a two-way dialogue without revealing who is sending the text message.

''We don't need 10,000 tips,'' said Hedlund. ''We need one tip with the right information.''

Contact Katie Williams at (515) 573-2141 or katie@messengernews.net

Member Comments

View Comments: | 1-14 | Post a comment

CommonSense
10-13-08 7:43 PM »Report Abuse	Is that really the best you've got.
prettymom
10-13-08 6:45 PM »Report Abuse	hahahahaha what a loser.
CommonSense
10-13-08 4:11 PM »Report Abuse	Nice, criticize me for blogging on a website, which is the local paper in the town that I live. Meanwhile, in your world, your blogging on a website in the paper of a town you don't even live in. Tell me to get off the computer, when you are....on the computer. You don't like crimestoppers, you don't like people with opinions other than yours, you don't like Fort Dodge.....see a pattern here. If you think you are a happy person, I'd sure hate to see the people you think are unhappy. You pretend to be a "christian" woman, then on the same page you call Fort Dodge a "dump" and a "hole" and say I have "no life". You are no stranger to blogging on this site either. I don't know what happend to you in FD to make you hate it so much, but really, let it go. Not good to carry so much hate around.
prettymom
10-13-08 2:02 PM »Report Abuse	I am very happy where I am and doing very well, thank you. You be happy in your dump....hahhahahaa, you comment on everything, seems you have no life. why not get off your computer and get out in the real world.....idea!!! clean up your dirty little town.
CommonSense
10-13-08 11:03 AM »Report Abuse	Nothing I said was fiction. It was just my opinion and just because it might not be the same as yours, doesn't make you any more right than me. You throw your own mud and then look down on me. Take your own advice! Prettymom. I live where I am happy. You can call it a hole or whatever you want, I still think it's a pretty good place to live. I like it here, otherwise I wouldn't live here. And I definately wouldn't waste my time running down a town that I moved away from. If you didn't like it here, fine, you moved somewhere you thought was better. I hope you are happy there, though you appear not to be. Jesus be with you as well.
SettheRecordStraight
10-11-08 11:13 PM »Report Abuse	And it is common sense that.. HE WHO THROWS MUD LOSES GROUND.
SettheRecordStraight
10-11-08 11:11 PM »Report Abuse	CommonSense: You are against hateful statements? Are you the same person who wrote the unkind fiction on the aquatics center blog? Quit attacking people. If you disagree with someone, say why. You are giving Common Sense a bad name.
inwc316
10-11-08 7:47 PM »Report Abuse	they sould put it on myspace to .
prettymom
10-11-08 6:41 PM »Report Abuse	thanks again for your comments. sorry you are stuck in your little hole in the world. May Jesus be with you.
CommonSense
10-11-08 3:40 PM »Report Abuse	Either you like it more than you admit, or you just enjoy misery. Either way, sorry you didn't collect your reward, no reason to stop helping out the police though!
CommonSense
10-11-08 3:39 PM »Report Abuse	It's not too hard to tell you were from here originally. I moved here. You are exactly the type of negative minded person that has held FD back for so many years. You said "NEVER AGAIN!" Crime stoppers is not a joke. It's a very useful tool and has helped thousands of crimes get solved. You call it a "joke" and say "never again" like some spoiled little child that didn't get her way. I wouldn't pick on you at all if you would have just stated the fact that you turned someone in and didn't get paid. Stick to the facts. You have a legitimate complaint. Just because you didn't get your way, you give up? Not a very good example. If you hate FD so much, why bother reading the paper and blogging hateful things about the city. If it's so beneath you, why waste your time? I find it funny the people who used to live here and think it's such a miserable place and yet they still read the local newspaper to see what's going on.
prettymom
10-11-08 12:32 PM »Report Abuse	thanks for your comment, you sound just like the people that live in Dodge......I know we did the right thing! I was just making a point (Crime Stoppers does not pay out the rewards promised.) Have fun cleaning up Fort Dodge.
CommonSense
10-11-08 11:53 AM »Report Abuse	Nice prettymom, real nice. Why don't you just turn them in because it's the right thing to do. Yes, maybe you didn't get a cash reward but the reward of knowing you actually did something to help your community or keep a criminal off the streets is MUCH more significant than the money. Get your priorities straight!! How selfish can people possibly be. To say you'll never do it again cause you didn't get a little money. Pathetic!!
prettymom
10-11-08 7:39 AM »Report Abuse	What a joke,looked it up on Facebook....like who is going to give a tip and have thier picture next to thier comment. Crime stoppers is a joke, my family turned in a wanted person several weeks ago and they caught the guy. After many emails and phone calls still NO crime stoppers reward that was promised to us. NEVER AGAIN!

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