WeTip is a national nonprofit organization. It was started in 1972, in California; by a retired law enforcement officer and in 1982 the program began to operate nationally.
Milwaukee is fortunate to have a number of financial institutions partner with the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Sheriff’s Department to bring this program to Milwaukee.
The process is easy…. If someone knows of a crime but doesn’t want to come forward, they can be completely anonymous by just calling 1-800-78-CRIME.
When someone calls WeTip an operator will answer the hotline by saying, “this is the WeTip Anonymous Crime hotline, do not give your name or identify yourself in anyway”. The operator then will ask a series of questions about the crime to obtain the maximum amount of information possible for the police investigator. If the caller identifies themselves by mistake the operator will say that they need to disconnect the call and have them call back and speak with a new operator and start the call over. The operator will give the caller a number so that they can call back if they have more information to pass on and add to their tip. The tipster is asked if they are interested in a reward if there is an arrest and a conviction. The reward can be up to $1,000.00 and is paid at a post office chosen by the person who gave the tip. You could choose any post office thru out the United States. The tipster will receive the cash reward money by giving the code name that was given to them when the tip was first given.
WeTip does not record any calls, they do not trace phone calls, and they do not have caller ID. Thru out the years the courts have attempted to gain access to WeTip’s records, and because they have no information, but the tip, they have never had a caller identified since the beginning of the program in 1972.
WeTip and Law Enforcement stress the need to report information on all crimes, theft, fraud, drugs, sexual harassment, Elder and Child abuse, bullying in the schools, arson, graffiti, etc. This program has been proven to work. Just having the program in place has shown that crime will drop.
I urge you to share this information with your families and neighbors. I urge landlords to copy this information or make up your own and pass on to your tenants. The more we get this information and the phone number 1-800-78-CRIME out, the quicker we will all see the positive results.
Please call Liz Hammer at #431-2276 if you have any questions.