For Hamden Police, it is another step in helping to bridge the gap between police officers and the communities they protect. A new smartphone app called tip411 lets smartphone users submit crime tips anonymously.
“Often I’ll be in meetings and hear people say like I did yesterday, well, I didn’t want to bother the police. I heard from somebody else well, I want to be anonymous and I didn’t want to get involved so to speak,” said Hamden Chief of Police Thomas Wydra.
Wydra said the goal of the department is to connect with everyone in the town but realizes certain groups of people are hesitant to engage. Officers believe the app will encourage people to alert them of suspicious activity.
“We wanna reach people who ordinarily might not be willing to engage with us for a variety of reasons. That includes kids, people whose immigration status may be in jeopardy or some other process they don’t want to engage the local police. This is another way for them to reach us,” said Wydra.