The poster in the school hallway shows a mobile phone with a message that appears to be in need of some serious decoding – “DTRT TXT IM 2 HLP,” reports The Oklahoman. As Crime Stoppers’ law enforcement coordinator Master Sgt. Charles Phillips points out, for people who communicate via mobile phone texting, the message is easily decipherable – “Do the right thing. Text instant messages to help.” Since the launch of the Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers' anonymous Text A Tip program 18 months ago, text-based tips have been averaging about 100 messages a month. That number is growing at a faster pace than Web-based tip submissions or traditional phone tips.
Kevin Anderson of Anderson Software, a provider of text-based tip systems, said his 400 clients have told him that their texted tip programs have grown rapidly. The posters advertising the program alert potential tipsters that the process is “so anonymous, even Five-0 (police) won't know who sent it.”