VIDEO: Police Add Next-Gen Crime-Solving Tool

Hopatcong residents will soon be able to report crimes or suspicious activity anonymously to police via text message or Facebook.

Borough police Chief John Swanson said the department will participate in Tip411, a program that he said he hopes will encourage Hopatcong residents, especially teenagers, to inform authorities.

"We want kids to understand that there's a way to do the right thing anonymously, quietly," Swanson said after Wednesday's mayor and council meeting at borough hall.

To report an incident via text, Swanson said people must send the message to Tip411, or 847411. Then the person must begin the message with HopatcongPD followed by a space. Finally, a text confirming that the message was received will be sent to the sender.

From there, Swanson said, police can either immediately investigate the report or continue a conversation with the sender to seek out more information or to verify the report's validity.

Swanson said the department's Facebook page will provide news updates, such as road closures and car accidents, and will serve as another conduit for communication with the community. He also said people will be able to submit tips anonymously via a link on the page.

Swanson said an underage drinker was recently injured in a campfire in the borough.

"I'm wondering if this type of a tool wouldn't come in handy for kids who are there and who say, 'I don't really want to call the police,' but want to lead us in the right direction," he said.

But Swanson admitted there will be a learning curve and that it will take time to figure out which anonymous tips are bogus. "You learn what looks warranted, what's nonsense," Swanson said. "There might be some of that early-on stuff. But that's OK. We'll take the good with the bad."

Swanson said only two other New Jersey police departments have the service, though its utilized across the nation and particularly in Pennsylvania. He said he hoped to have his department trained and ready to use the system in a week.

"This is really something where you don't know where it's going to go but it has the potential to just take off and that's so valuable, so valuable," Councilman Mike Francis said. "We can only do so much investigating, so much guesswork. But this is a whole other era that we're moving into. It's pretty exciting."

Swanson said the program won't cost Hopatcong a dime over the 30-month contract. He said the service, which costs $100 a month, will be covered by federal forfeiture funds and was pushed into Washington, D.C., by Sussex County Prosecutor David Weaver. The borough must decide if it wants to keep the service once the contract expires.

"I think it's an excellent program and being the third borough to have it in New Jersey—it's quite an honor we got that grant," Mayor Sylvia Petillo said. "If you're in trouble, you can text. … I think it opens up a lot of potential for solving crimes and for public-safety issues."

Hopatcong's police department has shrunk from 26 members to 24 since April. A detective and a captain retired, and neither spot has been filled.