Post by Butler County Sheriff's Office.
Nominate your favorite TriState drug dealer for an “all-inclusive” Butler County experience including complimentary bracelets, quality lodging and concierge service, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office says in a new video.
See the video online at www.butlersheriff.org.
In the video promoting the agency’s recently launched anonymous tip service, the Sheriff’s Office gives a humorous take on a grim situation — the area’s growing problem with heroin addiction.
The Butler Undercover Regional Narcotics (BURN) unit, a multi-agency narcotics taskforce hosted by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, investigated a total of 542 drug-related cases in 2013. The caseload grew nearly 65 percent from 2012, according to the agency. Of those, the number of heroin-related cases grew from 59 in 2012 to 149 in 2013, according to agency statistics.
Hopes are the new anonymous tip services will lower crime. Tips can be submitted online at www.butlersheriff.org; by texting the word COPS and the tip to 274637 (crimes); or by downloading the mobile app TipSubmit to any Android or iPhone device.
“We wanted to give citizens another way to combat that problem,” Bill Verda, Butler County Sheriff’s deputy and communication technician, previously told Journal-News.
Using the system, tipsters can carry on an anonymous two-way conversation with law enforcement without requiring them to speak directly to an investigator, according to the sheriff’s office, which will pay $2,300 per year for the TipSoft software.
“We need help from citizens to fight crime in Butler County,” County Sheriff Richard Jones said in a statement. “From food stamp fraud to the apprehension of heroin dealers, many of our investigations start with information we’ve received from neighbors who are tired of crime in their community.”
Residents are encouraged to report information about non-urgent illegal activity, such as unsolved cases, vandalism, theft, food stamp fraud, the sale and distribution of drugs or information about crimes that are being planned in the community or in schools.
“It’s an important tool in the toolbox to proactively fight crime,” Verda said. “It’s going to help us investigate things that we didn’t know needed investigating.”
“The system strips out any identifying information yet still allows us to interact with tipsters to ask follow up questions,” he said.
Residents will begin to see eight billboards throughout the county promoting the new crime-fighting tool, according to Verda.
The Sheriff’s video was produced by Cox Media Group Ohio, which owns this newspaper.
LINK: Butler County Sheriff's parody video
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