Just learned the Austin Police Department has an online incident reporting system: ireportaustin.com

Of course, don’t use this for emergencies — dial 911.

But this seems a good resource to submit tips (including anonymous tips), and crime reports (harassment, burglary, criminal mischief, assaults, threats, theft, lost property, etc.).

Why would you want to report a crime? I mean, even if it seems something minor and not worth it, it does have effects. It helps APD look for crime trends, find hotspots, and establish data and paper trails. This can be important because when citizens call APD for help, like increased patrols, they are going to pull up data for the area. If there’s no data to support the extra patrols, it’s going to be hard for them to justify the resource expenditure.