Question

1) What are some potential problems or risks of relying on the information provided by anonymous 9-1-1 callers to serve as proof of impending criminal activity?
2)Should police officers follow up on information from anonymous callers? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Answer:

People like to call in and request to be anonymous because they know they are being nosy, or dramatic about a situation. Not always the reason though. But anonymous calls tend to have wrong information in them and can sometimes be completely false, and a way for one person to just try and get someone else in trouble. The problem with that is, you can't do a follow up depending on your department policy. Unless there is some sort of evidence, the person can't be charged, and by not having an available witness, it basically just makes the call a checkup to make sure no one is doing anything wrong.

No, unless a truly barbaric crime has occured, there should be no follow up. The caller wanted to be anonymous, so let them be anonymous unless they decide to come forward with more information.

Explanation: