"Text-a-Tip" Snitch Program Invades Small-Town America

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
September 25, 2012

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In yet another example of the Big Brother-style snitch culture being fostered and implemented all across the country, the city of Marion, South Carolina, is now demonstrating how the oppressive surveillance state is no longer limited to large metropolitan areas and bigger cities already conditioned to living under the watchful eye of government. Now, even small towns such as Marion, with a population of 6,939 people, are getting in on the act.

According to WMBF News, the Marion Police Department is launching a new program that allows citizens to report “crimes” via text message.

The Department’s new “Text-a-Tip” program is scheduled to be operational by the end of September of this year. Much like the now infamous “See Something, Say Something” program being implemented by DHS in Wal-Marts, Hotels, and other available television screens, the MPD is encouraging everyone to text message (843) 430-0938 if they see a crime in progress or even so much as what they deem to be “suspicious activity.”

Unfortunately, one can assume that gangs of police preying upon the already economically destitute citizens of Marion day in and day out does not constitute reportable suspicious activity. After all, such has been the case in Marion for some time, as any unfortunate driver will easily attest to.


In regards to the launch of “Text-a-Tip,” Marion Mayor Rodney Berry stated, “This is just another option for citizens in our combined efforts to stop crime in the City of Marion. Together we can work to make Marion safer and to make a difference in our communities.”

Regrettably, Mayor Berry’s and the Marion Police Department’s plan will do virtually nothing to keep Marion safer. However, it will undoubtedly increase the number of snitching incidents resulting from vengeful individuals looking for quick returns on their or anger, or from otherwise nosy and frightful citizens whose paranoia is only increased by the incessant replays of police dramas and terror warnings paraded in front of them on television every single night.

“Text-a-Tip” is yet another technological program, much like the recently introduced CrimePush and PatriotApp smartphone programs aimed at providing the general public with all the tools necessary to
enslave themselves and their fellow citizens.

The Text-a-tip program is by no means unique to Marion, South Carolina, however. The fact is that low-tech programs of this type are becoming common place in cities large and small all across the country.

For instance, the cities of Springfield Massachussetts, Evanston, Illinois, and Boston have all implemented Text-a-Tip.

Even college campuses like the University of Southern California have introduced the program as well as High Schools such as Pottsgrove High in Pennsylvania.

In the end, “Text-a-Tip” is just one more snitch program to enable police to spy on the population they have sworn to protect, and justify even more confrontations with individuals they would otherwise have no authority to harass. Undoubtedly, this program will be used by a domesticated and terrorized citizenry to rat on their neighbors in yet one more embarrassing display of just how far the American people have fallen.

If you would like to contact the Marion Police Department and/or Marion Mayor Rodney Berry and express your dissatisfaction at the rollout of this new program, you can contact them using the following information:

Mayor Rodney Berry
(843) 423-5961
Fax: 843-423-8620
107 South Main Street
Marion, SC 29571

Marion Police Chief Jim Gray
(843) 423-8616
Fax: (843) 423-8604
Email: mpolice@marionsc.gov
1024 South Main St.
Marion, SC 29571
Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Mullins, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident. Turbeville has published over one hundred articles dealing with a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville is available for podcast, radio, and TV interviews. Please contact us at activistpost (at) gmail.com.