# Tip (law enforcement)

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This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Please help improve this article by citing more sources. Find sources: "Tip" law enforcement – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2018)

"Tipline" redirects here. For the infrastructure project, see [Trans-Israel pipeline](/source/Trans-Israel_pipeline).

A **tip**, in [law enforcement](/source/Law_enforcement), is a piece of information regarding a [crime](/source/Crime) or other activity of interest to law enforcement, usually by a source outside of the law enforcement agency. A tip might provide law enforcement personnel with a direction to pursue in the investigation of a crime, and it might be made [anonymously](/source/Anonymity), or by a known source whom the recipient might have reason to trust or distrust. In [United States law](/source/United_States_law), by itself, a tip generally does not provide [probable cause](/source/Probable_cause) to make an arrest or perform a search of someone's property, but it may be a factor contributing to probable cause if [corroborating evidence](/source/Corroborating_evidence) can be found.[1]

Many law enforcement agencies maintain a **tip line** to enable citizens to report suspicious activities generally, or to provide information about a particular crime currently under investigation.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Kären Hess, Christine Hess Orthmann, *Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice* (2011), p. 213.

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