Mentor PD Joins Crime Tip App

The Mentor Police Department now has one more avenue to receive crime tips from residents.

The iWatch Northeast Ohio mobile app, free on iPhone, Blackberry, Windows and Andriod platforms, allows users to submit crime tips to Mentor Police, Lake County Sheriff's Department and dozens of other police departments — in multiple formats — from a single platform.

"It just seemed like a great, progressive way to get the community involved in reporting crimes or tips or suspicious behavior," Mentor Police Capt. Ken Gunsch said.

The app was developed by the Northeast Ohio Fusion Center, a partnership organization to fight large-scale crime that includes local county sheriff's departments, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Cleveland branch of the FBI, the RTA and more local law enforcement agencies.

The app allows users to find the department nearest to them and submit information, photos or videos through a text, a phone call or other means.

Gunsch said the app is a good compliment to the department's Facebook page, which has more than 10,000 followers.

"Facebook has been tremendous for us, it's really helped us ID people who there's no way we could ID in the past," he said. "iWatch provides another avenue to collaborate and cooperate, which is important because a lot of people just don't get involved."

The app also lists the type on information that would be helpful to reporting a crime: the time of day, descriptions of suspicious people, the location and more.

It also allows users to sign up for crime alerts.

"This is not a replacement for 9-1-1," Gunsch cautioned. "If you see a crime in progress, call 9-1-1, that's the best way to get the police there." 

Click here to visit the app's website.