St. Joseph Police Capt. Dave Hart said the (816) 238-TIPS number will still be available to call, but next month, online and phone app components will be introduced.

“As technology changes and time goes on, we’re seeing fewer calls to 238-TIPS, but we still want to have that dialogue with our community, because they know what’s going on out there and we rely on them heavily,” Hart said. “So we started looking at different methods to increase that conversation with our community members and one that we came across was a software-based solution. Everybody uses social media, everybody uses the internet now, fewer and fewer people call on the phone, it’s all texting, it’s all digital communication. So it was time for us to get on board with that and provide that service to the community that they expect.”

Hart said the free app is user friendly and will direct tips to the people who need them.

“You just fill in the boxes, check different information, and it also allows, which we didn’t have before, real time communication. So if you’re willing to share more information, we can actually chat back and forth so we don’t just get a one-time tip… but you’re still anonymous,” Hart said. “The other neat feature of this software is it allows us to break up the tips so they go to the people that need them… in a timely manner. If the tip is an investigation tip, it goes to investigations… if it’s a tip on somebody who has warrants, it may go to our warrants unit.”

The changes will be rolled out on February 1st and more details will be available then.