A secure intake channelbuilt around your community.
Confidential tips come in, get routed to the right agency, and stay locked behind role-based access and a full audit trail.
No system integrations. No CJIS entanglement.Just confidential tips.
Public Guards is standalone. It doesn’t connect to CAD, RMS, CMS, JMS, or anything else CJIS-bound, so there’s nothing for your IT team to provision, open, or maintain.
Agency systems: untouched
No connectors. No data sync. No agency-side install.
Standalone
Public Guards
A browser-based portal for receiving and managing confidential tips, running entirely on our hardened cloud.
Skip the procurement cycle
Nothing touches your network or CJIS systems, so most departments can pilot without a formal IT review.
Sign in from any browser
Staff log in over TLS with role-based permissions. No desktop client, no special hardware, nothing to install.
The tipster doesn’t disappear after they hit submit.
Every tip comes with a unique Tip ID and PIN. As long as the tipster keeps those two things, they can come back, check status, send a follow-up, or add new details — and your staff can reply right inside the same thread, without ever learning who they are.
Tipster
I saw the same vehicle in the parking lot again last night.Agency staff
Thanks for the update. Did you happen to catch the plate or a description of the driver?Tipster
Partial plate starts with 7K. Attaching a photo now.Follow up without exposure
Tipsters return using only their Tip ID and PIN. No name, no email, and no account is required & identity stays masked end-to-end unless the tipster decides otherwise and provides their contact details.
Staff can ask clarifying questions
Agency users send replies and requests for more detail directly through the portal. Investigations don't stall on missing context.
One PIN, one ID, one thread
Everything related to a tip lives in the same confidential conversation. If the tipster loses their PIN, the thread can't be reopened by anyone.
Why route tips through an independent vendor
Community trust depends on how the channel is run, not just who receives the tip. An independent layer adds accountability an agency-run form can’t.
Independent chain of custody
A neutral intake creates a tamper-evident record of when a tip arrived, what it contained, and who accessed it, mirroring the accountability principle behind IACP guidance on documenting citizen complaints.
Lower barrier for reluctant reporters
DOJ/BJA and Crime Stoppers evaluations consistently find people are more willing to report when the channel isn't perceived as 'calling the police directly.'
A baseline most departments can't build alone
Smaller agencies rarely have budget for TLS everywhere, encrypted storage, role-based access, audit logs, and retention policies. A shared vendor brings the same posture to every jurisdiction.
Audit trail you can hand to oversight
Every view, status change, and download is logged with actor and timestamp, ready for internal affairs, civilian review boards, or public-records requests.
References: International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) guidance on citizen complaint documentation; U.S. DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance and Crime Stoppers International program evaluations; Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015); DOJ Civil Rights Division pattern-or-practice investigations.
Important: Who we are
Public Guards is a service of Public Guards LLC, an independent, privately-operated technology platform. We are not a law enforcement agency, government entity, or part of Crime Stoppers, and we are not affiliated with any such organization. We may partner with law enforcement agencies and Crime Stoppers programs solely to route submitted tips to the appropriate recipient. Submitting a tip through Public Guards does not constitute contacting law enforcement.
What agencies get in the portal
Everything you need to receive, triage, and act on community tips, and nothing you don’t.
Tip Inbox
Search, filter, and triage tips by date, urgency, status, and category.
Jurisdiction Routing
Tips are routed to the appropriate agency based on tipster selection.
Status Workflow
Move tips through new, under review, assigned, closed, duplicate, and referred.
Role-Based Access
Administrators control who can view confidential tipster information.
Audit Logs
Every access and change is logged for accountability.
Agency Settings
Manage ORI, jurisdiction coverage, users, and notification preferences.
Two-Way Communication
Reply to tipsters inside the same confidential thread. Ask follow-up questions, request photos, or share updates without ever breaking anonymity.
Priority Keyword Alerts
Set custom keywords that trigger an instant browser alert and an email notification the moment a high-priority tip arrives, so urgent intel never sits unread.
Request agency access
Send us a few details and someone from our team will follow up to verify your agency. No procurement paperwork to start.
- 1
Submit the request
Tell us your agency and contact details.
- 2
We verify your agency
Our team confirms ORI and jurisdiction.
- 3
Portal access provisioned
Admin credentials are issued to your verified contact.