Web site allows students to report crime

The Florence Unified School District has embraced a locally run Web site that allows students and the community to anonymously report a school crime or community problem by text messaging or sending an e-mail.

The district is telling students and the community about AlertRecall.com in an effort to provide the safest environment possible for students, district spokesman Larry Cline said.

“In many instances students are fearful of informing of that kind of situation for fear of retribution,” Cline said. “This way they have no fear of that, and they can feel comfortable in disclosing that information knowing they are not in danger in any way.”

The Florence district will start telling students about the free Web site next week through assemblies.

The district will also send information home to parents, and posters will be placed throughout schools.

“It gets quite specific, and that’s the good thing about it,” Cline said. “It reduces greatly the option of closing down a (school) site because we can go to a particular student instead of not knowing which student is involved.”

Alert Recall came online in March 2005 and receives 50,000 e-mails and text messages a month from around the country, said Cecil Jackson, the site’s co-founder and a school resource officer at Washington High School in Phoenix.

Anonymous reports can be made on everything from bullying and drugs to sexual abuse and vandalism.

“We’re trying to prevent another Columbine,” Jackson said. “Whenever there was an incident, you heard kids say they knew about it but didn’t tell anybody. Now they like the fact there’s no retribution, no retaliation.”

Volunteers work in three shifts to monitor e-mails and text messages. Certain key words alert volunteers to severe issues for quick responses.

Once a report is made, volunteers contact the school’s principal or the police, depending on the level of priority.

The turnaround time is about 15 to 20 minutes, Jackson said.

“This is just an avenue that enables children and adults to take back their schools, take back their communities,” Jackson said.

The Higley Unified School District is looking at introducing the Web site to students and staff in the near future, district spokeswoman Sara Bresnahan said.

“I think anything that we can do to introduce our community to ways to reduce crime is a value, and this seems like a valuable thing,” Bresnahan said.

Queen Creek Unified School District Superintendent James Murlless said he was not aware of Alert Recall but thought it sounded “interesting.” He said it’s something the district would look into.

The Gilbert Unified School District does not participate in the program but does have a hotline for each of its high schools for students to call.

To report problems

• Text message alert@alertrecall.com. Include school name, state, severity of action with one being most severe and five being the least severe of the problem or crime, and how sure you are that the crime occurred or will occur.

• Visit www.alertrecall.com and fill out a report.