SOP-17 Citizen Crime Tips Information HotlinePatrol Division
SOP-17
January 21, 2021
SUBJECT: Citizen “Crime Tips” Information Hotline
PURPOSE:
To provide additional tools for the Department of Public Safety and the Community to continue
to work together to make Rohnert Park “The Safest City on the 101 Corridor” the department has
created the “Crime Tips” Hotline. “Crime Tips” provides a means for citizens to provide non-
emergency information to the department on possible suspicious and/or criminal activity in their
neighborhood anonymously via voicemail message or via email.
To provide a guideline that outlines how information received via “Crime Tip” is monitored,
evaluated, assigned, investigated, and tracked to conclusion.
I. PROCEDURE:
1. Citizens Informants
a) Citizens will contact the department via voicemail at 584-COPS or email at
crimetips@rpcity.org to provide information on suspected suspicious and/or
criminal activity occurring in their neighborhood.
b) Citizens should not use this system to report emergency situations or criminal
activity that is in progress.
2. Department Responsibility:
a) The Department will create, maintain, and monitor the “Crime Tips”
Information System.
3. Supervisor Responsibility:
a) The Crime Analyst will be responsible for checking the “Crime Tips”
voicemail and email messages and review any messages left to evaluate
them for validity.
b) The Crime Analyst will then forward valid “Crime Tips” to a
Sergeant/AWC to assign to the appropriate Officer or Detective based on
where the activity is occurring, time the activity is occurring, and day of
the week that the activity is occurring. The Crime Analyst can also
forward the tip directly to an Officer or Detective if it is regarding an
investigation already assigned to them.
c) The Sergeant/AWC’s in charge of an Officer tasked with investigating a
“Crime Tip” will be responsible for monitoring the progress of the “Crime
Tip” investigation, providing assistance, resources, and insuring that the
investigation is completed in a timely manner.
4. Officer Responsibility:
a) The Officer assigned to investigate a “Crime Tip” will contact dispatch
and have a “TIPLINE” call for service created. The officer will then begin
his or her investigation of the “Crime Tip”.
b) The Officer investigating the assigned “Crime Tip” will insure that any
time spent investigating the “Crime Tip” is linked to their original call for
service. This will be accomplished by advising Dispatch that they are
conducting follow-up and providing Dispatch with the incident number, or
by advising dispatch that they are conducting follow-up and asking them
to link it to the “TIPLINE” call for the location they are investigating.
c) The Officer will be responsible for frequently advising his or her
supervisor of the status of the investigation and upon completion of the
investigation closing the “TIPLINE” call for service with an appropriate
disposition.
d) The Officer will, if requested by the citizen informant, notify them of the
outcome of the investigation.
5. Dispatch Responsibility:
a) Dispatch will assist Officers in insuring that “TIPLINE” calls for service
are generated correctly and that follow-up investigations are linked to the
proper “TIPLINE” call to provide a means to accurately track time spent
by Officer investigating “Crime Tip” complaints.