PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – Throughout our WAVY 10 newscasts, you’ve most likely heard our anchors and reporters encourage you to call the Crime Line (1-888-LOCK-U-UP) or to use the P3 Tips App, but how exactly do they work?

Reporting crime is as simple as one, two, three using the crime line or the P3 Tips App. With just a few simple steps, you can help lead law enforcement to an arrest.

First things first, the most important thing to know is whether you send tips online, through the app or via phone, your information will remain anonymous. Secondly, let’s debunk one major misconception.

“The Crime Line is not the police department,” says Stephanie Clarke, Arch Mortgage Insurance senior trainer and instructional designer. “We do work very closely with the police, but we are 100% privately funded through donations and fundraisers that we do.”

Now, let’s dissect the in’s and out’s of submitting a tip.

“You log in; you present a tip,” says Matt Ripley, Norfolk Crime Line immediate past president. “It’s sent over to JoAnn who is our police. I guess she’s our PIO or liaison with the police department and she gets the tips. She sends them to the investigators as needed. And then if it leads to an arrest, then we will reward the tipster accordingly.”

And by rewards, he means cash incentives of up to fifteen-hundred dollars.

“What was committed,” says Clarke. “Right. How was it a violent crime? Was it a crime that involved weapons? Was it a crime that involved drugs? So, there’s basically a point system. And based on that point system, the board of the Norfolk Crime Line determines what that payout will be for a tip that has helped to resolve a crime.”

“From the minute a tip is received it’s assessed for validity,” says Ripley. “As soon as it does, JoAnn presents us the next month with any or all the arrests that are made according to what’s related to the Crime Line, as soon as that’s done, we vote on it and we look at it.

Using the number or code you were assigned to you can check back for status updates.

“Certainly you could, and you would receive information about how to collect, you know, any reward that you would be eligible for,” says Clarke.

Each year, more and more people are supporting the safety of the Hampton Roads community offering tips to the Crime Line and the P3 Tips App. In 2023, 798 tips were submitted with the vast majority coming in through the mobile web and app.