Jul 12th, 2024
Summer interns of the Youth Empowered for Success (Y.E.S.) Internship Program assigned to the City of Mobile Public Safety Division get a unique work experience to raise awareness about the urgency of reporting crimes.
In a new public service announcement video, the interns help write the script and are cast to play teens who while hanging out talk about how a gun threat got them feeling uneasy and afraid. A solution is then revealed – report crimes anonymously using WeTip.
In October 2022, WeTip was activated in Mobile. It is a crime tip hotline available 24/7, 365 days a week. Mobile Police Department’s Domestic Threat Desk receives and processes the tips.
“Citizens are more likely to submit tips when they know their identity will remain confidential,” Intelligence Coordinator Andre King said. “Our crime tip hotline allows them to be involved helping law enforcement solve crimes, which we greatly appreciate, and we are committed to maintaining the anonymity of our system.”
WeTip generated 127 tips in 2022 when first launched. In 2023, a total of 714 tips were received to help investigators with their cases. So far this year, 429 anonymous tips have been received.
The Public Safety Division is one of several city departments where Y.E.S. interns are assigned. Interns Harmoni Sanders and Amaya Lewis are getting up to 160 hours of work experience through the program. Kailee Rivers, along with the Sanders and Lewis, spent the last school term volunteering as a youth violence prevention teen ambassador.
MOBILE POLICE DEPARTMENT