LMPD says more people are calling crime tip line, encourages people to submit information

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville Metro Police Department said more people are making the call to help with police investigations, but they're still encouraging citizens to use their tip line.

The department said there were more than 6,000 tips submitted through the phone tip line and the new online Crime Tip Portal last year.

"The hearts of folk will often times be the reason they want it to stop. They're sick and tired of being sick and tired in many of the cases," said Dwight Mitchell, a spokesperson for LMPD. "If this helps us in some small way to help them, then it's good for everybody. You can't put no price on that."

Mitchell said more and more people are using the online portal to send tips to the department. The online portal allows more information to be added, including video clips.

Louisville Metro Police Spokesperson Dwight Mitchell (WDRB photo)

"Any tip that we get can help us solidify a case or maybe even solve one," he said.

Mitchell said he can't put an exact number on how many of those tips lead to an arrest, but in many cases it leads officers in the right direction.

"It's helped us solidify, sometimes, what we already know or it takes us in a different direction that we might have been on to say no, that's not the way you need to go," he said. "You need to go this way, so its had a combination way of affecting. It's another way for the public to interact with us without fear."

The online tip portal does ask for contact information, but notes that you can leave the area blank if you wish to stay anonymous. Calls to the tip line are always anonymous.

"When it comes into the police department, we do not know who you are," said Mitchell. "We have no way of really tracing that. At some point in the investigation, if that tip does yield something, obviously they would have to come forward at that point."

Reiterating the point that if you see something, say something.

"That's what you would want somebody to do for you if you were the victim, so I would think, just within your heart, that you would want to do that," Mitchell said.

If you have any information that could help the police department in any case, the crime tip line is (502) 574-LMPD (5673). To submit a tip through the online portal, click here.