Program substitutes information for interaction

A new program offered by the MSU police gives students attending Spartan football games the opportunity to alert the department of crimes with an anonymous text message. Though the idea of communication between police and public should be encouraged, it’s hard to think of a situation in which texting the police station would be more appropriate than a call.

If a student sees a crime that inspires him or her to alert authorities, it would, in most cases, be a serious situation. If the student chose to text the police instead of calling, it’s very plausible the student would miss important information or not give the police enough detail to act upon the situation effectively.

Additionally, staying on the phone with someone trained to handle emergency situations would benefit both the caller and the victim of the crime. Communication is vital when reporting an incident. Talking to a professional will help the caller remain calm and receive information on what actions to take until the police arrive to the scene. The texting program loses the back-and-forth communication with trained professionals.

Allowing students to report crimes via text also raises the question of what the caller’s responsibility is to the situation they are reporting. If a person sees a crime being committed and calls in, he or she would be able to tell the dispatcher key points and would be told what actions to take until the police arrived on the scene. A text would take a couple minutes to compose and send, but afterward it would be difficult to clarify pertinent points with the sender.

Because the texts sent to the police station are anonymous, the system is ripe for abuse. An anonymous text program such as this could be likened to anonymous comments on the Internet – the writer is given a certain freedom to say whatever he or she would like without taking responsibility. A vindictive student could text the police in an attempt to settle a grudge.

This is not necessarily the first thing that would happen. Hopefully, it would not happen at all. When given the opportunity though, there might be some students that will take advantage and use it for negative activity. When a student calls in, the interaction between caller and dispatcher can help police determine the validity of the lead, but if the lead was sent via text it would be very difficult to know of any ill intentions until they arrived on the scene.

It’s possible that the police enacted the texting system to relate to students better and encourage them to be in better touch with authorities when they see something wrong. Yes, students have become a lot more comfortable with texting and might be more encouraged to report crimes because of this system. However, if there is already a phone available, most students will probably call 911 in a real emergency. Calling the police or 911 is something ingrained in us from a very young age.

At this point, the system seems to fill a niche somewhere between actual emergencies and questionable behavior. The current system sufficiently promotes the interaction required between students and the emergency personnel who can facilitate problem solving.