Explainer · Anonymous Reporting
Anonymous tip line software for agencies.
How tips reach investigators, what anonymity means under our terms, and what agencies need to establish before launch.
If you need to report something now
This is not an emergency line. If someone is in danger now, call 911. Otherwise, send what you saw through the See Something Send Something app. Tips are routed to the fusion center for the state you are in.
Definition
An anonymous tip line is a reporting channel intended to let people provide information to law enforcement without identifying themselves to the receiving agency. How it works depends on the service and applicable law. Before submitting, check what information is collected, who receives it, and the circumstances in which it may be disclosed.
Operations
How an anonymous tip line works.
A tip line is an intake, a queue, and a set of routes. On the See Something Send Something network, tips arrive by phone, web form, the app, or a partner agency’s feed. Each one lands with an analyst who decides what it is, what it needs, and who has to see it. The analyst then routes it: to an investigator, to a local department, to a federal partner, or to all of them at once.
A shared queue lets analysts review incoming tips across channels without switching systems. For agencies evaluating anonymous tip line software, ISX provides tip management software that brings public reports, partner feeds, and field submissions into one analyst queue.
Georgia made that change in 2018, when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the state’s fusion center, GISAC, moved public tip intake and partner routing onto the ISX platform. Before that, tip-to-action time there was measured in hours. The figures below are theirs.
Tip volume
growth in tips reaching analysts since deployment, without added headcount
Processing
average time from tip received to analyst action
Outcomes
probable school shootings prevented in the first year
GBI / GISAC operational data · 2018–present · Not projections
Read the Georgia case study →The Distinction
Anonymous or confidential? What tip line software can and can’t promise.
Confidentiality and anonymity describe different handling of a tipster’s information. Our privacy policy and application terms explain the distinction.
The See Something Send Something app treats every tip as confidential. When a tip is submitted, the tipster’s name, phone number, and IP address are routed with the tip to the state fusion center, where an analyst reviews it and forwards it to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Law enforcement holds that information as confidential. A tipster can choose to provide limited information, which may limit what investigators can do with the tip.
Anonymity is a further step, and it depends on state law. The application’s terms state it this way:
“If permissible in your state, you will have the option to send your Tip anonymously. If you choose to send an anonymous Tip, the Company will not disclose your Personal Information to the Fusion Center. However, the Company reserves the right to de-anonymize your Personal Information upon a request from the Fusion Center or law enforcement based on the risk of imminent harm and/or exigent circumstance under applicable state law.”
The anonymous option does not mean that no identifying information is collected or that disclosure is impossible. The EULA describes an exception involving imminent harm or exigent circumstances and also contains other disclosure provisions, including responses to legal process and to verified law enforcement requests.
Deployment
How to set up an anonymous tip line for a state or agency.
Before launch, define intake ownership, routing responsibilities, staffing, and the agency’s approval requirements. The decisions below shape how the tip line performs once it is public.
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Ownership and routing decisions.
Who owns intake, which channels are accepted, who receives each category of tip, and who escalates when a tip needs action outside normal hours.
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One analyst queue.
Every accepted channel feeds the same view, so analysts can review submissions from those channels in one queue.
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Simultaneous partner routing.
One action sends a tip to every agency that needs it. Notifying partners individually adds steps before each agency receives the tip.
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A processing target the system is built around.
ISX is architected around a 15-minute target between tip received and analyst action. The target is a design constraint, not a staffing goal.
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Intake that works in field conditions.
Field submission needs to accommodate one-handed use and intermittent connectivity, because officers and liaison officers submit from the street.
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Staffing for launch volume.
Plan staffing and intake capacity for the increase in reports that follows a public campaign.
Approval runs through procurement, legal, and command sign-off, in that order, with different concerns at each stage. Technical evaluation is one part of that process. Deployment specifics, cost, and timeline are covered in a confidential agency briefing.
The architecture decisions behind these, in full →On the Record
Published state deployment examples.
Statewide deployments on the See Something Send Something network, each with the public record that documents it.
Questions
Common questions about anonymous tip lines.
- What is an anonymous tip line?
- A reporting channel intended to let people provide information to law enforcement without identifying themselves to the receiving agency. On the See Something Send Something network, tips are collected through the app and routed through the state’s fusion center to the agency that should act on them.
- Is an anonymous tip line really anonymous?
- It depends on the platform and on state law. The See Something Send Something app treats every tip as confidential. Where state law permits, the EULA provides an anonymous option under which the company withholds the tipster’s name and phone number from the fusion center, subject to the EULA’s disclosure provisions, including a request from the fusion center or law enforcement based on the risk of imminent harm or exigent circumstance. This is not a promise that a tip cannot be traced. The full wording is in the End User License Agreement.
- Will police respond immediately to my tip?
- No. A tip line is not an emergency service. If you require immediate police action or other emergency services, dial 911.
- Who receives anonymous tips?
- Tips are routed through a network of state fusion centers run by State Police and state offices of homeland security and preparedness. If a tip warrants investigation, the fusion center forwards it to the appropriate agency on a need-to-know basis.
- Can anonymous tips be traced?
- A confidential tip carries the tipster’s name and phone number, which law enforcement holds as confidential. An anonymous tip, where state law allows one, withholds that name and phone number from the fusion center, but it is not untraceable: the company can release it on a request from the fusion center or law enforcement based on the risk of imminent harm or exigent circumstance under applicable state law, and the EULA contains other disclosure provisions.
- How do agencies or states set up an anonymous tip line?
- Start with the operational decisions: intake ownership, accepted channels, one analyst queue, simultaneous partner routing, a processing target, intake that works in field conditions, and staffing sized for launch volume. Then take it through procurement, legal, and command sign-off. Deployment specifics, cost, and timeline are covered in a confidential agency briefing.
- Does this work for schools?
- The network supports community and school safety initiatives. See the Community and School Safety initiative for published examples and deployment information.
- What does an anonymous tip line cost?
- Cost, timeline, and configuration are shared in a confidential briefing. Request a briefing to discuss cost, configuration, and deployment requirements. The public app is free to download and use.
Next Step
Request a confidential agency briefing.
Command-level conversations grounded in your agency’s operational context, with no demo script. We respond to all briefing requests within one business day.
Please submit requests using your official government email address.
govservices@mymobilewitness.netNeed to report something instead? Download the app.