The Porter County Sheriff’s Department is launching The Porter County Alert Network, a new interactive way to keep the community connected and informed through opt-in e-mail, text message, Facebook and web published public safety alerts. 
The new initiative will also allow the public to report suspicious activities easily through the Tip411 anonymous text messaging code. More details can be found about the code later in the press release.
Interested persons, schools, community groups and businesses can sign up for The Porter County Alert Network for free via a dedicated Web page link on the Porter County Sheriff’s Department Web site; portercountysheriff.com. Through this Web site, the Porter County Sheriff’s Department will provide information to help maintain and improve community safety.
Subscribers can sign up to receive alerts from the Police Department via e-mail or as a text message to a cell phone. They can also opt to receive neighborhood only or city wide alerts, as well as surrounding city alerts that are on the Citizen Observer alert system.
The other component of this new technology is the Tip411 program. The program will allow the public to submit anonymous tips to the Police Department via text messaging. While this is not a replacement for dialing 911 in an emergency, this technology will allow interested persons to communicate potentially helpful information.
The tipster simply texts ‘pctips’ to 847-411 (tip411) with their message. When police receive the message, they can respond to the tipster who will continue to remain anonymous. The Porter County Sheriff’s Department has no way to access the identity of the individual reporting the information. Citizens may also submit anonymous web tips through the system at www.citizenobserver.com. This program will be go into effect on July 1st.
For questions about the Alert Network, please contact Lieutenant Eckert at 219-477-3000, or go to our web site, portercountysheriff.com and click on the CITEZEN OBSERVER link.
Sheriff Lain will be hosting a community meeting to discuss this program and introduce a neighborhood based safety initiative. The community meeting will take place July 1st at 6 p.m. at Ivy Tech College located at 3100 Ivy Tech Drive in Valparaiso.