Ugh, this is going to lead to a surge in nosy neighbors, isn't it?

So can I turn in all the underage drinkers I see on campus in order to pay for tuition next year?

well this should start alot of phoney crimes.

i would refer this to a cash grab for the tipsters.

paypal?

*ducks*

@ottawa_guy: I've never called in a tip to one of these hotlines, but I don't think they pay (at least that's the impression I have) until your tip has been verified to have led to an arrest, so there has to be an actual crime.

@Skrizzy: Meh. I assume you're kidding, but this is exactly the sort of nonsense I expect people will report for cash. Obviously people should abide by the law, but is the (limited) police force using its time best to stop frat boys from drinking beers on Thursday nights? Unless said underage drinkers are extremely loud and disruptive (or even, I'll give, somewhat loud and disruptive) it seems so silly to turn the cops on them. Full disclosure, I am a student, so perhaps my perspective is different, but I think I would actually feel similarly about say, neighbors smoking pot. I probably wouldn't call the cops unless it were some sort of chronic (ugh, puns) problem that was interfering with my life.

@Buran: Even if it doesn't lead to arrests, it could lead to cops annoying people who didn't do anything wrong.

I just finished reading an article about life in Baghdad (the topic was important but not here.) The author wrote that he was speaking with an Iraqi via cell phone, arranging where to meet, when suddenly the line went dead and repeated redials only got voice-mail. Another journalist in the hotel said "You're new to this aren't you? If he's seen talking in English on a cell, he'll be assumed to be a collaborator and likely killed on sight." (It turned out the fellow saw he was being watched and went into hiding for a few days.)

Iraqi hunting and reporting Iraqi.

Americans hunting and reporting Americans?

Don't turn on yourselves, people. 't's all I'm saying.

@generalhousewifery:

How is this different from what goes on everyday?

Hell! You cant sit on a park bench at 11pm or drive in your car with 3 other friends without cops checking you out!

lol... I was watching the show cops last night & the reason two cops pulled over a carload of 3 people is because they looked at the cops as they passsed by. "SUSPICIOUS!!!!!!!" (note: everything is potentially "suspicious" to cops)

Get rich quick scheme:

Report a drug deal in progress on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and ___________.

@AngryEwok: Nice. Racist much?

@tmccartney: I must have missed where he mentioned anything about race. Can you point it out for me?

@tmccartney: That comment sort of pins you as the racist, for assuming that a drug deal in that area could only involve people of color.

Didn't they do this with African Americans who were suspected to be runaway slaves...?

@forgottenpassword:
We were watching that episode too and were pretty amazed the reason for pulling them over was 'Looked suspicious'.

Jeez.. I hope I never look suspicious, apparently that is reason enough to get pulled over or, in this case, for someone to make $50.

@tmccartney:

I believe it was a reference to a Chris Rock bit.

So I just called crime stoppers to report on the gas companies and the government.

The only good rat is a dead rat!

we shouldn't need money to turn in our parents, it's our orwellian duty!

Well, the reason why AngryEwok's comment could be considered racist by most sensible people, is because that statement directly links drug trafficing with the name of Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most prominent and recognizable african-american personalities in the past 50 years.

AngryEwok, poor form. VERY poor form.

It's a shame that someone here and now has chosen to attempt to sully the name of a person who spent his life struggling for equal rights and civil liberties for ALL, suffering at the hands of, and fighting against injustice and racism, and who was assassinated for his noble efforts to make America a better nation. But hey, I guess that's okay now, right? (oh, by the way, Vote Obama. It's said he's trying to make America a better nation too.)

and Dobernala, if you need to have the racism pointed out to you, than that probably makes you a little worse. "OMG, it's not blatantly overt, so it's not there!" Yay for willful ignorance? Here, i'll do it for you:

MLK (that's shorthand for Martin Luther King Jr. Remember, because you need to have things pointed out, right?) Anyway, MLK (a prominent African-American (oh, wait. do i have to point things out one more time for you? you did ask for help, so i think i should. here goes: "African-American = "black person. have you been keeping notes so far? there may be a quiz.)

*sigh*

So, in AngryEwok's statement, he directly connected the name of MLK, a prominent and intelligent African-American, with the crime of drug trafficing. the connotation being, that Black people, no matter who they are, how intelligent or educated they may be, ARE selling narcotics in such high volume that by calling Crime Stoppers (as per this Consumerist article), would be an effective "get rich quick scheme".

Understand? Or do you still need me or someone else to "point it out for you"?

I hear the big money is turning your neighbor into Homeland Security for being terrorists. The nice thing is that, with no fair trials, habeas corpus or open court, it'll be years before your shenanigans are exposed. Plenty of time to spend your narc'ing loot. Yippee!

I'm glad that when Sussex County gets mentioned in the news, it's always about crime somehow.

At least this is better than the 'Swiffer Incident' that my high school was briefly famous for.

(p.s. what crime? I've gotten pulled over for having a headlight (HEADlight, not tail-light. and my high-beam, at that) out before; I'm sure the tips will at least give the cops something to do.)

Oh jeeeze! It was a damn JOKE! (that angryewok made)

I have seen a comedian make the same joke. Basically saying "you ever notice how every street (in any city) that is named after martin luther king jr is one of the most dangerous, crime-ridden streets?

And in a LOT of cases.... this is true.

Get over it!

as for turning people into the po-pos for $..... it better be some REAL crime! ...like your neighbor that you KNOW has a grow operation going & you want to drop a dime on his ass. Mostly how it works is that you will get a number from the crimestopper operator that will ID you IF & WHEN you want to claim $ for a tip you made. ANd the tip has to be fruitfull with arrests/convictions made. So it may take a long time to get any $.

Once you submit a worthwhile & credible tip.... its up to the po-pos to investigate.

You'd probably have better luck talkign to an actual detective at the Police station.

I just worry about the false tips people could send in & overzealous cops swat-teaming it up with no-knock warrants (from some easily pliable judge)... busting into someone's house with no REAL evidence other than a tip from some anonymous caller. It HAS happened before (makes the news occassionally).

Wow. All I did was repeat the words of Chris Rock (a black guy, in case you didn't know), who has made a sadly accurate observation in stand-up routines that the most crime ridden streets are typically named in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Maybe you're the racist.

I predict your next reply is "No way, my best friend is black."

As for the comment about MLK, I chuckled, because it's true. I was just on MLK this morning, here in Jacksonville, and the minute I pulled off, I saw a tranny hooker (I'm sorry, transgender, to you PC people)...this was at 10:27 in the morning.

And in Jacksonville, basically any numbered street, from 8th street on up, along with MLK, is a drug invested haven. I'd like to see it cleaned up, but I know it's not gonna happen in my life

@forgottenpassword: Consumerist posting is serious business. No jokes, everything racist, every post is a whine or blame the customer.

@AngryEwok: The same people who would be quick to call you a racist for your innocuous comment would be the same one to call working class whites hicks, rednecks, inbred, and etc. Its a double standard.

Forgottenpassword, I've actually had a relative use CrimeStoppers in Canada, to provide a tip for someone he knew in highschool who was stealing cars from a nearby neighbourhood, and I can tell you that, at least up here, it's 100% anonymous.

the people collecting the tips on the other end of the line do not have caller display technology enabled on their phones (or their phones don't support it), they do not ask for your name, although they do ask you for detailed information about how you came to gain the knowledge that you did, relevant dates & times, and persons involved (of course).

at the end of the call, they'll give you a number to write down, (eg. "12345") which i assume correlates to the file number that the person on the line has created with the details of your tip, and they tell you to call back in a few weeks and quote the number to the receiver.

if your tip was instrumental to an investigation, the person will let you know and ask you if there is a particular bank where you'd like to recieve your reward. whet CrimeStoppers does, is they phone the bank, and ask them to put your reward (cash) in a plain sealed envelope, with the number they gave you written on it. When you go to pick up the reward, all you have to do is tell the teller that you're here to pick up an envelope for "12345" or otherwise ask for "12345", and he teller will retrieve it from under their desk/window (whatever you call them), and hand it to you.

generally, the amount of the reward varies according to the nature of the crime, the value of the tip, whether the suspect(s) are of high value to the police, etc etc. i'm not familiar with the exact specifics of how they assign a monetary value to tips, but it's done in that way generally.

Also, the bank you want to recieve your reward at can be any bank of your choice, whether you have any existing or prior business with them or not, as long as it's located within their jurisdiction. If you are concerned that someone at the bank (a fellow patron, or an emplyee) will see you, you can ask to have the reward left at a bank halfway across town, or if you're not concerned, and are friendly with your branch's employees, you could have them leave it there, and when you go to pick it up, you can ask your teller if they could deposit the contents right into your account. because it's cash, it'll show up on your statement/bank book as a regular cash deposit, with NO information linking the money to CS

at that point, you are a little richer.

Snitches get stitches...

@forgottenpassword:I'm white so that never happens to me.

wow. maybe if I wasn't the one on my block doing all the illegal things, this might seem like a goof idea XD

*good

@trk182:

so am I & it DOES happen to me!

It happens when you live in a predominantly white area & have a bunch of bored cops with nothing else better to do.

@ptrix: Or maybe it's not racism but the fact that in most City's in american MLK Blvd. is where all the crack dealers are.

I'm guessing the crime has to be something the cops will bother with. Otherwise I can easily report close to hundred people for j-walking.

Maybe to counteract the appeal of the money awards, we need to up the social taboo on snitching, so people are actually afraid of being shunned if they're identified as snitches.

Look at Radley Balko's maps of SWAT raids gone wrong, including wrong door raids, raids based on inaccurate tips, and even raids based on accurate tips involving nonviolent crimes. The police are busting down people's doors, killing their dogs, and beating and sometimes killing the innocent and guilty alike; so if you're tipping off the police on your neighbors, know what your actions may lead to, and think really long and hard about whether your stupid little reward is worth possibly having something like that on your conscience.

You're either participating, or you've never had to deal with neighborhood crime if you don't think a tip line is a good idea. I find the allegations of this being snitching, or Orwellian, are a little bit stupid. I don't want a drug dealer in my neighborhood. That's not totalitarian, it's just self defense.

Coming from a family which had more black sheep then white, it is just wrong to stool pigeon.

@ptrix:

yeah, get out. go watch some eddie murphy's raw or delirious. and then, watch some chris rock.

and then go buy a sense of humor.

@generalhousewifery: Frat Boys ARE Loud and Disruptive all the time.

@ptrix: Uh, MLK would have called the police on a drug deal as well, dumbass.

@Trai_Dep: I hear the big money is turning your neighbor into Homeland Security for being terrorists.

I am SOOOOO glad you mentioned that.. I've been wanting to relay this story. The house next to mine is a rental house in a Suburb Of Los Angeles. For the last 12 years, the owner has rented it for 2-3 years at a time ONLY to FBI and law enforcement. Nice, quiet and friendly people.
Anyhow, the latest renters were different in how they acted towards everyone around, we thought because of their culture (unknown, not going to speculate). Their behavior has been annoying since they moved in (nice to speak with though). They never came home before 3am on Saturday and Sunday night/mornings, leaving their dog out, who would howl every minute until they come home. Got real annoying when they would leave on vacation for a week several times a year. Drunk parties, cars blocking our driveway, their dog ALWAYS jumping over the fence (using their lawn furniture) into our yard to hump our small female dog, etc. Everytime I thought about calling a cop (or animal control) to quiet them, we would always say no, be nice neighbors and just put up with it this one time. Real nice people when we would talk to them, maybe this time was just an oversight. We started getting angry almost every night abought the dog howling. How could they sleep through that and not know it! (They started leaving the dog out nightly.) Right outside my kids window on a school night. My wife and I had enough and were going to talk to them one last time, and then start reporting.
To shorten this.. I was leaving for work, there were plain white/beige SUVs (no tint.) parked all up and down my street. Lots of Shaved head, Latino men, with long sleeve flannel shirts hanging out over their pants walking down our street. They looked exactly like what you think of a Latino Gang-Banger here in LA. They had the neighbors Daughter on the curb, crying on a cell phone (no one else at home). A couple of the younger ones were wearing bullet proof vest with "POLICE" and "ICE" marked on them. That's when I noticed the Gang-banger type ones, their gold necklaces were actually badges hanging outside their shirts. About 20 agents in all. I even had to look up "ICE" to see what type of agents they were. (Immigration and Customs Inforcement - Homeland Defense.)
I never saw the 2 younger adults, the older male or that damn dog ever again! A different woman seems to be occupying the house right now, a relative, but the "for lease" sign has gone up. No one was arrested that day, Lots of activity at night and they all just disappeared after that ICE visit. Looking back, they were probably under investigation, there were signs. (unusuals cars/people in the neighborhood)
Anyhow if you have annoying neighbors, I can vouche for how effective ICE can be at handling it for you! It's been back to quiet and normal since that visit! THANK YOU ICE!

@spanky:

I think the blame falls mostly on overzealous police who dont do any REAL evidence gathering before they make their raids. That & their fudging of evidence when submitting warrant requests to judges.

@metaled:

I gotta admit...I'd probably be a bit on the eager side to report a suspicious neighbor if they pissed me off on a regular basis. But it would have to be something real... not made up. I am too afraid of getting chrged with something like providing false info to police etc. etc. etc..

Btw.... i REALLY HATE LOUD NEIGHBORS! I grew up in the country where it was quiet & peacfull. I now live in a suburban neighborhood.
ANd I hate living next to neighbors who use their hands alot to construct things (banging hammers on wood all day & loud tablesaws). IMO A loud tablesaw blasting next door is just about the worst sound to have to put up with. I also HATE dog owners who refuse to keep their dog quiet.

@frankthefink:

If you know that your neighbor has a meth lab, is running some kind of theft ring, or is otherwise committing serious (violent or property) crimes, that's one thing. Call the police. Don't call a tipline with hopes of making some money off the deal. Call the police, identify yourself, and tell them what you know.

But if you're tipping off your neighbors for victimless crimes like growing marijuana, or because you see something you don't understand--like tomato plants or aquarium cleaning supplies or breadboards or whatever else is raising flags for cowardly, stupid busybodies these days--you're responsible for the results of your actions. And know the potential consequences.

And if you're such a sociopath that you don't care as long as you get your money, then maybe you need to worry about the potential social consequences of your actions.

@spanky:

Am I a sociopath because my neighbor annoys me & I want to get his illegal activity (victimless crime) busted by the cops?

@parrotuya: The only good rat is a dead rat!

A local news report in Woodland Hills, CA (predominetly White, middle-class). A 13 yo was shot down on a main street, at 2pm , in front of an appartment building, less than half a block away from the middle-school (Jr. High). Shot and Killed on the sidewalk, no one from the apartment complex, or on this busy street with tons of foot and car traffic saw a thing. Not possible. Only witnesses heard gun-shots, but not one person looked out or saw a damn thing.
School had just let out, so the dumba$$ reporter (KCAL9) stopped a group of fellow students and asked them what they thought about the shooting and the fact that no one was willing to come forward. The young boy answered it perfectly for the Entire neighborhood..."We didn't know him, so why should we give a shit.", Live afternoon broadcast! I was amazed!
Yet later that evening, all the neighbors are lighting candles on the blood spots, telling the news it was horrible that a young kids, good student that had absolutely nothing to do with gangs shouldn't have died at such a young age.
It pissed me off, no one would tell the cops anything, so what, we didn't know him. It just was a bother for everyone's personal business. This NO SNITCH BS is too much! I can only hope that someone later called the anonymous We-Tip line, since they are too afraid of being targetted by the gangs for snitching. If the cash would entice someone to overlook their fear, GOOD!
It's not possible no one saw anything, then it's not possible a witness wouldn't feel bad enough for the mother to come forward with some info... well Maybe someone is desperate/greedy enough for cash to do the right thing, give a little bit of justice! His "homies" aren't going to handle it and give him justice (what they usually say when no one will snitch.) He was a decent citizen, no gang affiliations so you should snitch!
Snitch, you're a bitch (a bitch with a wad of cash!)

BTW, A large group of older teens once jumped me when I was about 20, beat the crap out of me, took my Bicycle and as a afterthought came back and took my wallet, the kid told me if I reported it, they knew where I lived and would come and get me. I went straight to the police department and reported it while they called an ambulance. No Arrests ever, but I wasn't "got" either. @$$HOLES!

There has always been a tip line. It's called the police dept nonemergency number. I've used it a time or two myself. Once, to calm down a noisy/rowdy party at 2am. Another time to report a strange shirtless man wandering around inside my bldg at 4am (turned out to be my neighbor's drunk boyfriend whom she had thrown out).

I enjoy my peace too much and don't need a financial incentive to pick up the phone and call the cops on my neighbors. If your illegal activity is disturbing me, consider the call made whether I get paid for the call or not.

@forgottenpassword:

Noise complaints aren't victimless. If they're persisting after you've politely asked them to be quiet, calling the police is reasonable.

Noise complaints, also notably, aren't serious. They're not sending SWAT teams out on noise complaints.

If you were to tell the police that you thought they were building bombs with those tablesaws or something else that you should reasonably know could provoke a violent police response--whether your motive was to quiet them or to collect a reward--then, yeah, that'd make you a sociopath.

@ spanky

What are the "potential consequences" of calling the cops on someone who is growing marijuana in their home? Weed is illegal and nine times out of ten, when cops come down on the "farmers" out there, they pick up caches of illegal firearms, too.