Fargo & Grand Forks Students Can Text Police - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Fargo & Grand Forks Students Can Text Police

  Fargo and Grand Forks schools already have technology in place that lets older students, who may have smart phones,  alert police of trouble.

  It's called "text to tip". However, tragedies like today's… may happen faster than police can respond.

Sheriff Bob Rost, GF County: "They can text a message to one of our Deputy's cell phones and we will respond to that text."

Rost says so far that text to tip program is only in Grand Forks schools, but it's already proved useful.

Sheriff Bob Rost: "And in a couple of different instances we've had people text us about drug activity and we've actually made some arrests, based on that text to tip."

  Rost says they're also considering a countywide smart phone app that will allow everyone to tip law enforcement, when they spot suspicious or criminal activity.

  Sheriff Rost says following today's tragedy, we could wind up with armed guards at school entrances.

 Fargo also has a text to tip program in it's schools. And today, the Fargo Police Department unveiled a text to tip number that all residents can use to report crime or suspicious activity.

  That text to tip number for Fargo residents is:  701-730-8888