When you call the WeTip hotline, the first words you will hear from the tip operator will be, "This is the WeTip crimeline, please do not give your name or identify yourself in any way."
The operator will then ask a series of questions,
designed by law enforcement, to obtain the maximum
amount of information about the reported crime. After the information is taken, if the informant requests a reward, a code name and number are assigned to the informant. The caller always remains absolutely anonymous.
WeTip information is immediately conveyed to the appropriate police, fire, and sheriffs agencies. Arrests are never made on the basis of a telephone call alone. Arrests are only the result of verified law enforcement investigations. No one ever knows who the caller is!
Sometimes there is confusion between what's "confidential" and "anonymous." According to Webster,
confidential is defined as "to tell in confidence," "entrusting with a secret," "to put in another's keeping." Confidential basically means that someone knows who the caller is but they promise not to say anything.
They promise, that is, until they are subpoenaed to testify in court. Anonymous is defined as "having an unknown or withheld name". True anonymity maintains the security of the informant because there is no one that knows who the caller is. They cannot tell, even under oath, because there is nothing to tell. The anonymous hotline provides complete protection for the informant and gives them the freedom to be completely honest about what they have seen or heard in the workplace.
Typically when establishing a hotline, many communities and companies interchange the two words, anonymous and confidential, and use them synonymously. According to Webster, the two words hold very different meanings and thus require very specific principles for providing an effective reporting system for employees. Anonymous crime reporting requires complete anonymity. This means that no one, under any circumstances will know who made the report. Thus "anonymous" is an unknown caller with a name that has not been given and cannot be identified. If a hotline claims to confidential it means that someone is keeping the employee's name a secret and they will hold the tip information in confidence. Unfortunately, past experience reveals that when the person with the secret is subpoenaed to testify in court, they will be forced to reveal their secret. Anonymous reporting is the only safe way for an informant to give information without fear of reprisal or having to testify.