By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — It’s been a little over a year since the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office implemented a crime phone tip line, 985-359-TIPS, which authorities say has been instrumental in helping to solve key cases in the parish.

“People are starting to tell us what we need to know,” St. John Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said this summer, adding he implemented the line to make it easier for the public to give crime information to authorities.

Callers can choose to leave their personal information or remain anonymous.

Tregre said all tip line calls are assigned to the detectives division under the supervision of Major William Stelly.

The tip line works just like a regular phone, Stelly said. If the phone rings and none of his staff members are around to answer, the call will go to a voicemail answering system.

The voicemail system, however, also cues an email notification. The email will include a waveform audio file of the message so detectives know immediately when someone has left a tip.

Stelly said if needed, the email is forwarded to the appropriate department, such as narcotics.

“If it’s on the weekend and we get a tip and no one answers it, it goes immediately to voicemail, but it also initiates an email at the time the recording is made, and I can actually listen to the tip from my house,” Stelly said. 

Callers of the phone line have given authorities very important information that led to arrests in a few big cases, and Stelly said he hopes more residents begin to use the line.

He said authorities have started to hand out business cards printed with tip line information on them to witnesses at crime scenes.

The line gives people a way to feel comfortable about providing authorities information, which is very important, Stelly said.

Oftentimes witnesses will hesitate to give information face-to-face, but will feel more comfortable making a call instead.

In addition to the phone tip line, the St. John Parish Sheriff Office’s recently redesigned its website, which also has an area where residents can send in crime tips.