City of Rochester
News Release
(Tuesday, June 6, 2023) –- Mayor Malik D. Evans
announced today that the City of Rochester has added a new public-engagement
tool to provide citizens an anonymous means to report non-emergency crime tips.
The City has entered into a partnership with Report It
Anonymous Reporting System, a free smartphone and internet application that
provides users the ability to report non-emergency criminal activity to the
City.
“Report It gives our citizens an easy-to-use method to say
something when they see something that is 100 percent anonymous,” said Mayor
Evans. “From news delivery, travel planning to buying coffee, smartphone apps
are increasingly becoming the preferred means of communication sharing in our
society, so this application allows us to engage our customers on their terms
to gain the information we need to reduce crime and keep our community safe.
Report It represents yet another tool in our ever-expanding public-safety tool
box that will help us create a safe, equitable and prosperous Rochester by
inspiring hope and delivering opportunity to everyone.”
South District City Councilmember LaShay Harris suggested
the City adopt the technology after seeing it on the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives website while doing research.
“I want to thank the Mayor and his team for vetting this
technology and bringing it to Rochester,” she said. “We needed a way to collect
crime tips using the modes of communications people use today, and the most
used device is the cell phone. With this application, citizens can report
suspicious activity with the assurance they will remain anonymous, which is a
critical component of our work to restore the partnership between the community
and the Police Department.”
The Report It application uses proprietary technology that
offers full confidence that their information will be delivered to the City
while no identifying data on them or their device will be collected or saved.
Users can also establish anonymous accounts to receive messages on their
report.
The application is limited to non-emergency crime-tips that
will be reviewed Monday through Friday during business hours. Crime-tip
categories include suspicious person or activity, guns and weapons, theft or
burglary, fugitive information and information about a previous crime. Users
can also provide photos.
Other users of the Report It application include the
Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives.
To begin a crime-tip report text ‘Rochester’ to 63975. To
download the app, text ‘reportit’ to the 63975.
The City will utilize the Report It application for crime
tips for one year and then determine if it can be expanded to other functions
of City operations.
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