Skip to content

Windsor News home
Windsor Watchers emblem: a hooded watcher looking out at the Ambassador Bridge, with the Windsor News W as a distant light

A Windsor News public service

Windsor Watchers

Where there's crime, there's Windsor Watchers.

POSSIBLECASH REWARD
If someone is in danger now, call 911. Tips here are not monitored around the clock. Windsor Watchers is a news desk. It cannot dispatch officers and it is not an anonymous police tip line.

Windsor Watchers ยท Send a tip

Send a tip, solve a crime.

The text-a-tip line is working now. The online tip form is not open yet, so please text the desk.

If someone is in danger now, call 911. Do not use this form or the text line for an emergency. This is a news desk, not a police dispatch line, and it is not an anonymous police tip program.

In an emergency, call 911. Tips here are not monitored around the clock.

We work with police

Windsor Watchers cooperates fully with police and with any lawful order. We pass tips to the right police service, and we never stand in the way of an investigation.

We review every tip and may choose not to publish or pass on any of it.

Don't send false or malicious tips. Knowingly false reports can be a crime.

Possible reward

A tip that helps lead to a conviction may be eligible for a reward, at our discretion. A reward is paid only after a conviction is entered. There is one reward per case. No reward is paid to police, or to anyone involved in the crime.

This offer does not change how we treat your identity. Windsor Watchers is a news desk, not a police service, and it is not an anonymous police tip program. A reward code does not make a tip anonymous, and it does not create informer privilege.

A reward code is optional. If you want a way to claim later without giving your name up front, you may pick a short code and include it in your tip, or you may ask the desk for a code when you follow up with your tip reference number. Keep that code and quote it if you later want to claim. You do not have to give your name to set or use a code. If you do not set a code, we may still consider a reward if we can otherwise match the tip, but we may not be able to do that.

If you set a reward code, we keep only that code and the tip reference number, with no tip content, until the case is closed or a reward claim is settled, then we delete it. Stored encrypted tips are still deleted automatically after 90 days, unless a legal hold requires us to keep a specific item longer. More detail is on the Privacy and security page.

We may refuse or decline a reward for any reason we consider sufficient. This is not a contract, not a bounty, and not a promise that any particular tip will be paid.

This site is not legal advice and is not a police service.

Text the desk

Text (226) 774-2258. Standard message rates apply. The line is working. Texts go to the Windsor Watchers desk. There is no auto-reply. Your phone number is visible to us.

A text to this number is not end-to-end encrypted. The phone company path and Twilio, which provides the number, can see the message. The site does not claim otherwise. When a text reaches our system, it is encrypted with a public key before it is stored. The key that opens stored tips is held only by Windsor Watchers, offline. The desk inbox gets only a short alert with a reference number, with no tip content. Requests that do not carry a valid Twilio signature are refused. Stored encrypted tips are deleted after 90 days, unless a legal hold requires a longer hold. Details are on the Privacy and security page.

Send a tip, solve a crime.

Text the desk at (226) 774-2258. Standard message rates apply.

Tip form

The online tip form is not open yet. It does not collect or store anything. Please text (226) 774-2258 instead.

When the form opens, a form tip will be encrypted in your browser before it leaves your device. This page will say so when it opens.

How a tip would move

This is how a tip moves through the desk. It is not a police anonymity program. Informer privilege almost certainly does not apply to a news-desk tip. Any reward is only the limited, discretionary offer set out on this page. Partnerships named below are pending. Nothing is agreed yet.

  1. 1. You send a tip

    Text (226) 774-2258. Call 911 first if someone is in danger.

  2. 2. The desk logs it under a reference number

    Each tip is stored, encrypted, under a desk reference number. The text line does not send an auto-reply. If you left a way to reach you, the desk can give you that number so you can follow up.

  3. 3. The desk reviews the tip

    A Windsor News editor reads it. We review every tip and may choose not to publish or pass on any of it. We may ask a follow-up question if you left a way to reach you, or if you later quote the reference number.

  4. 4. If it should go to police, the desk shares relevant facts

    Routing to the service that covers that place is a planned step. No police-partner agreement is in place yet. Those slots are marked pending below.

  5. 5. You can follow up with the number

    Keep the reference. We will not publish your name, number, or the contents of a tip as a news story without a separate conversation and your agreement, except where the law requires disclosure.

Partner slots, pending

Windsor Watchers can copy the idea of a clear community path and a tip reference number. It cannot copy another program's anonymity guarantees or informer privilege, and it does not claim those protections. Any reward Windsor Watchers may pay is only the limited, discretionary offer set out on this page. Any police routing needs a partner agreement. These slots are reserved and marked pending. Do not read them as an active partnership.