Apparently, law enforcement is seriously stepping into the 21st century. According to a report, police dep artments in Boston, Cincinnati and over 100 other communities have begun using a text message tip-line in the hopes that cellphone-savvy youngsters will alert them if they see a crime being committed, or know of one ahead of time. "It's obvious that the future of communication is texting," said Boston Police Crime Stoppers commander (and techno-visionary) Michael Charbonnier, adding that the department's system as yielded, "Some great drug information, specific times, dates, names of suspects, locations, pickup times,
[and] license plate numbers." The only roadblock? Getting cops to understand that OMG doesn't refer to a terrorist attack.
posted Jul 3rd 2008 9:23AM
I've gotta say, I love that graphic. LOL
That pciture is pricely, it made my day. lol
I still have that phone!! (It's just my backup phone). The n00b in the pic didn't unfold the phone to use the full keyboard...I mean the is a post about texting.
People who text on Nokia's deserve to die anyway
I agree. Hilarious, and it helped wake me up from my Pepsi sugar crash.
Thanks for giving me a great laugh so early in the day. You rock Joshua!
This program sounds like a great idea until they get the bill.
"OMG IM BEING KILLED"
This is one of the reasons I love engadget.
comedy gold
Best. Graphic. Ever.
Love that phone... Was a freakin' tank, and I could type about as fast on it as I can on my keyboard here @ work. No MP3, 3G, web, 2MP camera, etc, tho. Still, haters can go die in a fire.
The graphic is the only reason I clicked comments, couldn't care less about the story. Good one, Engadget.
that graphic is priceless. want moar.
HAHA! I can stop laughing reading that! All my co-workers keep staring at me LOL
How bout "OMG im hanging off a ledge. Sum1 just pushed me."
haha, picture is the best XD XD!!
lmao @ the picture
+1!
best engadget picture in a long time
Yes, that shite is hilarious right there. One might even throw in
"OMG someone pushed me down (I've fallen), and i can't get up"
Wow, this could be a really interesting thing to have going on. Every cell phone can text, and thus millions of eyes for the police.
Every cell phone can also make calls too..
Yes, but you won't see somebody on the street pick up the phone and say "Hey, they are at the warehouse, the deal is going down tonight!" If they are heard, they are DEAD. People can program in a police number, name is something that nobody can tell it is police number, and text without drawing attention. This is all about making it easier for those to report things and not draw attention and get them hurt.
But not every cell phone has text service.
maybe legally, but sure as hell not morally
we all know he did it
DAMMIT, wrong thread.
Engadget, when oh when will you allow us to EDIT COMMENTS!!!
seems like any easy way for bad guys to bombard the police with fake texts though. make them go on wild goose chases.
LAPD, OJ is the killer.
Sorry. OJ is innocent.
Sorry, OJ was acquitted. That doesn't mean he is innocent, it means he was found not guilty.
Innocent until proven guilty, right?
OJ rocks a mean pair of Bruno Magli's!
@Abuzar:
No, not guilty until proven liable after the civil trial.
Nest step: Text encryption softwares for mobile phones !
One coming for iPhone: www.jashsoft.com
In the iPhone Apps section
yeah thats the best but saddest graphic of all time
KID: I'm being killed
POLICE: Oh, that sucks. Where are you being killed?
KID: At home.
POLICE: Address?
(kid runs out of airtime)
That sucks
oh, and they can't track your cellphone, of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking
You guys don't know that dialing an emergency number is totally free?
But yeah, that scenario sucks.
Funniest Engadget post ever
not so much the post as the graphic.
My sister has been texting the police for years. I burst out laughing when she showed me a text from an officer a couple years back. (No not personal "omg wut r u doin" texts, actual police investigation related)
You sister has a thing for Policemen then, or they have a thing for her!
Lets just say I was a cop... and I wanted to get in contact with ur sister...
@Warren. Classic!!!
god damn snitches gettin it easier and easier
Amazing graphic, just made my day...
Amazing graphic... Definitely just made my day, lol
remember the story about the boy who cried wolf
just wait till the cops get one like:"1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d" and spend 3 hours trying to figure it out, only to rush off to arrest the sender.
LMAO! Makes me want to buy a cheap ass prepayed phone just to do that, smash and toss it after lol
Oh, i read that quite fast "If you can read this you need to get laid". Even though I would never write like that. Thank I'll make sure to get laid again, last nite was hott
Sorry, LJ. You "REALLY" read that wrong.
With extra emphasis on the word "really". Which you "really" forgot to read.
But hey, if you "really" got laid last night, then congrats. I'll be sure to send you a "really" old cookie.
"Really".
Oh my word. That is hilarious!
Imagine the young policeman that understands it, but he doesnt want to explain to the old seargant, who is trying to figure it out! :)
Omicron Macro Gerald
I tried not to laugh because of the seriuosnessesss of the post but that graphic is making me laugh so much.
All is open game here on the 'gadge!
It's a shame we can't Highly Ranked the image, it's so awesome :D
"It's obvious that the future of communication is texting,"
Tell that to AT&T, who just removed SMS from the iPhone plans....
Sorry, OJ was acquitted. That means he's not guilty, not that he is innocent.
people are going to have fun texting in annonymous tips now...it's gonna be worse than American Idol.
i pity the desk cop who will be assigned to read every friggin' sms.
http://www.methtext.com
but are they "in"?
This is ridiculously old news. Here in boston, we've been using this system since around christmas time... Poster ads around the city have ridiculous slogans like:
'Help save an endangered species.... Young People.'
Also, it's not meant to be an 'omg i'm being killed' service, as you know, you can still make PHONE CALLS...
It's really meant for anonymous tips, as lots of people in the city are afraid to tell the cops what they know about a homicide/whatever
how "anonymous" is a text that shows up with your phone number?
.......and then?
But... Um... You get the humour right?
That's why I'm a loyal Engadget fan! You guys are hilarious!
I also love the CE-OH No he didn't Posts......
Keep up the good work!!!
I almost spit my Vanilla Coke all over myself and my work monitor looking at that picture. That is _TIMELESS_.
When seconds count, the police are just minutes away....
Some friends of mine made a funny video about something like this for a 48 hour film contest. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu1EUguVf24
OMG Force is on the job!
www.omgforce.com
I could have used this a couple of nights ago...Called 911 to report a fire via cell phone...and once they figured out which jurisdiction should respond to it (about 3 minutes of transferring between sheriff's office, police dept and 2 fire depts) then they finally sent a fire engine. (And I live in a large city...the fire was at a home that sat on the border between the city and a suburb).
It would have been great to simply text and let their asses figure out their issues w/o me being on the phone. Lol.
H31p. Th3 r00f/ th3 r00f. Th3 r00f 15 0n f1111r3!!!
Sorry, what jurisdiction? You'd still be waiting mate.
The OMGForce has been doing this for years. Check them out at omgforce.com!
The follow-up SMS would be "blarg, im ded".
if you can't text that to "911" then it makes no sense.
'please text "help" to 9991111-33 for emergency response.'
I LOL'd at the picture, then I sent it to a friend.
She LOL'd too.