January 19, 2012
The recent implementation of the TipNow program at Hamilton is an important step toward empowering the student body to take control of the safety and community environment on campus. We hope the student body will see the value of such a program and use it responsibly. While we commend and appreciate Campus Safety’s approach, we are concerned about many of the logistical issues this tipline raises. Although those in charge of the tipline may already have solutions for these, they have not been shared them with the student body, thereby preventing students from being eager to use the line. To ensure future appropriate use of TipNow, better communication regarding its logistics is necessary.
Though we appreciate the idea of anonymous reporting, the way the tipline has been advertised is unclear regarding what exactly should be reported. What is “suspicious activity”? Such language has closer associations to terrorism than to the sorts of issues college students would encounter. Although the more detailed descriptions of TipNow’s purpose (as well as what sorts of tips would be helpful to Campus Safety) were covered in senior Kate Moore’s Dec. 8 article, more recent advertising has not discussed these topics. Future advertising should include this information to help clarify the goals of the tipline for students.
This lack of clear direction for the tipline’s use is contributing to many students’ failure to take it seriously. Banning those who misuse the tipline is an admirable attempt to ensure appropriate use; however, it is a weak threat to those who don’t see TipNow’s usefulness in the first place.
The process of verifying the difference between valid tips and abuse of the system is unclear. It’s easy to send a tip that seems legitimate but is false, and if Campus Safety doesn’t arrive in time to verify the tip’s validity, it won’t be able to determine whether that tip was an abuse of the tipline. The likely high influx of prank tips may result in stretching Campus Safety’s already thin resources unless some more effective way to discourage and identify false tips is devised.
Additionally, it is unclear as to what actions will be taken based on the tips received. How is Campus Safety going to investigate anonymous tips, and how much licence would such a tip allow officers to take? An anonymous tip seems useless for the sorts of issues students want to be anonymous about, such as sexual assault or domestic violence; such a tip is simply heresay, and more is required to verify who committed a crime. Would such heresay justify interrogating a student or searching his or her room?
Although we appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the safety of Hamilton’s campus, we’re concerned that students don’t have enough information regarding TipNow to take it seriously and use it as intended. Students need a clearer understanding of the appropriate sort of information that would be useful and appropriate as a tip, how their information will be used, and how Campus Safety will verify tips as legitimate. We look forward to further communication from Campus Safety and the administration clarifying these issues. With such information, hopefully the student body will feel comfortable and encouraged to use this new resource to take better control over the safety of their campus.