Make what you know actionable.

Where reporting is active, a tip can relate to an existing agency update or be submitted separately. Choose the appropriate participating agency and describe what you actually observed.

A marketing contact form is not a public safety reporting channel. This website does not accept tips.

Explain what you personally observed, where it happened, and when. Include the direction of travel or a clear location description when relevant. Distinguish a fact from an estimate: saying that a time is approximate is more useful than giving a precise time you do not know. Explain why the observation relates to the agency’s public request.

Media can add context when the submission feature supports it. Review what a photograph or other attachment reveals about bystanders, private spaces and your own identity. A location permission is not a reason to include unrelated personal information. The goal is a clear account for the intended reviewer, not the largest possible upload.

People may notice relevant details at a shop, in a shared building, or while carrying out an ordinary day. A voluntary account can describe a person, an item, a conversation or a sequence of events that is not explained by a vehicle sighting alone. This is a different source of information, not a promise that a citizen report is always more reliable than a camera record.

Stay with what you already know and can safely provide. Do not approach someone, follow a vehicle, enter private property or investigate to create a tip. If footage may be relevant, follow the agency’s instructions and the attachment options actually available. File formats and video support should be checked before sending.

A clear account can include what happened, when and where it happened, and what you directly saw. Identify uncertainty rather than presenting an inference as a fact.

Only attach material that is relevant and lawfully available to you. Never approach a dangerous situation, investigate a person, or create a risk to obtain a photograph.

The limited-visibility setting generally withholds email and telephone details from routine agency access while displaying a name. It does not make the submission anonymous or conceal information you place in its text, media, or attached location.

The published policies describe additional legal, safety, and disclosure circumstances. Read them before submitting sensitive information.

The receiving agency may retain, use, and lawfully share the information under its own rules. Review or a response is not guaranteed, and deleting a Lucas account does not recall an agency's copy.

A clear tip answers a few ordinary questions. What did you see or hear yourself? Where were you? About when did it happen? What connects the observation to the request? If someone else supplied part of the account, make that clear instead of presenting it as something you witnessed.

An approximate time is useful when it is labeled as an estimate. “Around 2:30 p.m., after I left the library” gives a reviewer more to work with than a false claim of precision. If you later remember a correction, follow the agency’s instructions for adding information rather than silently rewriting the story in a new unrelated submission.

The FBI’s public tip guidance emphasizes accurate facts, place and time, including timestamps when discussing video. These are general writing principles for a useful account; the receiving agency’s instructions determine the actual submission process.

Source: FBI: providing useful information in a tip

An image rarely explains itself. Say what part is relevant, where the file came from and when the event appears to have occurred. If a camera clock may be wrong, distinguish the time shown in the recording from the time you believe the event happened. Do not correct a device clock or alter an original file just to make a submission look tidy.

Keep the original recording or image where possible, and follow the agency’s directions about providing a copy. NIST’s preservation guidance treats the source and transfer history of digital material as important information. That does not mean an app upload automatically establishes authenticity, admissibility or a complete chain of custody.

Use only attachment options supported by the current feature. If the file type or size is not accepted, ask the receiving agency which channel to use. The website does not take uploads and product support is not an evidence desk.

Source: NIST IR 8387: preserving digital evidence · UK government: recovery and acquisition of video evidence

A fictional weak account might say that someone “looked suspicious near the building.” It leaves the reviewer to guess what happened and why it matters. A more useful account describes an observable event: a child wearing a blue jacket walked past the east entrance at about 2:30 p.m., and the contributor later read a department request with a partly matching description.

That account still does not confirm an identity or establish what happened. It explains what was observed and why the person sent it. A resemblance, a hunch or a confident tone should not be substituted for facts, and the receiving department must assess the information.

Share information you already have without following, confronting or investigating someone. Your safety and other people’s privacy matter more than producing a better attachment. Check the recipient and the submission’s contents once more before sending.

If the available screen does not make the recipient clear, pause and check the agency’s instructions. Sending quickly is less useful than sending an understandable account to the intended place.