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Article: Police Are Seeking the '411' on Crimes Through Anonymous Text Messages
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 21, 2008
- Author:
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Copyright informationThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The D.C. police department has a new number for people with leads
about crimes: 50411, set up to handle anonymous text messages.
In a city where witnesses often are reluctant to come forward for
fear of retaliation, Chief Cathy L. Lanier is hoping to get
information about homicides, robberies and other crimes any way she
can. And so the District is following the lead of Boston, Seattle
and other cities in offering text messaging as an alternative to
phone calls.
"I'm 40 years old, and I love text messaging," Lanier said. "It's
a really quick, cool, easy way to communicate, and if I don't tap
into those people, I'm shooting myself in the foot."
The District is working with GoLiveMobile!, a ...