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ANDERSON, Ind. — Starting July 1, Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana is getting bigger and Anderson Crime Stoppers will be no more.

Law enforcement agencies across Madison County met Thursday to learn more about Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana and how it will help the departments solve crimes.

”Looking at the tips we get from Central Indiana, they are very detailed,” said Madison County Sheriff Scott Mellinger. Mellinger was the one who originally reached out to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana about coming in.

Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana will replace Anderson Crime Stoppers, a tool in Madison County for almost 40 years.

Anderson County Crime Stoppers has been run out of the Anderson Police Department, a task that can be time consuming, according to Anderson Police Chief Michael Lee.

”They will screen it, determine what department it belongs to, if there’s any additional info they need to locate prior to passing it along,” Lee said, referring to the supervisor on his staff that handles each anonymous tip.

The move to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana will free up resources. Lee said the staff at CICC does a great job.

”It’s almost as good as the person talking to a police officer on the phone and sometimes maybe even a little better,” Lee said.

As law enforcement learns how this new tool works, the goal is also to educate the public on the new service they will be anonymously reporting to.

”It goes through our servers in Canada and then comes back down to Indiana,” said Daniel Rosenberg, the director of Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana. ”There’s no way for me to get that IP address or caller I.D. that identifies who you are.”

Rosenberg led the training Thursday.

With Anderson Crime Stoppers, if you called after business hours, you would run into a voicemail. If you call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana, you’ll get a real person 24/7. Rosenberg said actual conversation makes for better tips.

“When we are having a back and forth conversation, I am going to get much more specific about what’s going on.”

The biggest goal is just to let the people of Madison County know, Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana is now the go to for anonymous crime tips in the area.

“If you feel uncomfortable or you don’t feel safe in directly providing info to law enforcement, we’re the tool for you,” Rosenberg said.

Starting July 1st if you want to report a tip anonymously in Madison County, call (317) 262-TIPS.