Residents of Benton Harbor will soon have a new way to report tips to police without having to speak with the police themselves. At a meeting this week, the Benton Harbor City Commission approved spending $6,000 to sign the community up for tip411. Deputy Director of Public Safety Michael Clark told WSJM News it will mean the creation of a mobile app for residents to submit tips and pictures to a third party that keeps the tipster’s information secure.
“It allows the ability to remain anonymous,” Clark said. “It allows the ability for somebody to contact us and give us information without having to be seen with us.”
Mayor Marcus Muhammad said this program sounds like an innovative way to engage residents so they feel safe.
“When we had the string of shootings and murders in a short period of time, we gathered and the message that came out of it was stop the violence, but stop the silence,” Muhammad said.
Clark told us the department will put the news out there when the app is ready. CitizenObserver, LLC is already working on it.
