3A Wednesday, Mover Hotline rrom 1A Harvey and Chris Zimrner- nan, director of the Weber school Foundation, first be- jan considering the hotline vhile working together to ;hare camera images from hat district's schools. "After looking at how dds use phones," Harvey ;aid, the two of them deeded a hotline based on ext messaging was most ikely to succeed, Texted tips are read im- nediately when the Real Time Crime Center is open, vhich is from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. "The first thing that hap- )ens is, everyone in the leal Time Crime Center jets an email," Harvey said. ;(The tip) is vetted, and it's :mailed to the principal and ;chool resource officer." Students can access the ip line by addressing their ext to CRIMES and start- ng their message with the vord FRIENDS, followed >y a space. Students are isked to include the name •f their school in their text nessage and describe the it-risk or illicit behavior. Selling the idea Taylor Williams, student- >ody president at Fremont ligh School in Plain City, igrees with the decision to lse a text-based rather than roice-based hotline. "In our generation, we ike to text a lot," Williams aid in a video interview vith the Standard-Exam- ner. "In some situations, 'ou're not able to talk on he phone 'cause you don't vant anyone to hear you ay those things." Administrators at Fremont High are promoting he hotline with posters and liers throughout their halls. Student-body vice presi- lent Dallin Fisher said he nd his fellow student of fliers are also spreading the vord about the hotline, "hey want students to now there is always an iutlet to turn to, he said, re- ;ardless of how hesitant hey may be. "We're just subtly trying o bring this in," Fisher said. Bailey De Vries, also a ^bo tudent-body vice president t the school, acknowledged tudents often feel torn by heir desire to keep a secret nd still get help for sorne- ne they care about. "(Because of the hotline) ou can do it in an anonymous way where your riend isn't going to have n awkward relationship vith you and they can still ee! loved and accepted," KELLY KEII ER/Standard-Examinsr Fremont High School students (from left) Dallin Fisher, Taylor Williams and Baily DeVries talk about the new FRIENDS Hotline in Ogden and Weber school districts. The hotline is for those who wish to anonymously communicate with police about any number of concerns, including bullying, suicide risk and more. De Vries said. Weber Sheriff's Deputy Paul Babinsky began working as a student resource officer at Fremont High at the start of the school year. He said the hotline has already been used at the school. "I've had reports of lads who were depressed," Babinsky said. "Being at a high school (this size) is kind of like being in a small city. There are going to be problems." Because of their close access to students, Babinsky and other student resource officers will play a large part in verifying that tips are legitimate, not pranks. Babinsky said he doesn't believe false reporting will be common, however, and that the volume of tips will likely increase dramatically as students grow more used to having the hotline available. "There are a lot of kids at this school who are very compassionate, very concerned for their friends." Anonymity guaranteed The first week of the hotline met with success countywide, Harvey said. In its first few days, the hotline led to information about a group of students who had been cutting themselves, and one tipster texted in about being bullied and sexually harassed by another student. Without guaranteed anonymity, Harvey said, those tips and likely many others will go unreported. The personal invisibility the FRIENDS Hotline offers is especially airtight, he said, because all of the tipsters' identifying information is stripped away by a third-party information center in Canada. "Defense lawyers can't file a discovery motion for (the tipster's) information," he said. "(Canada) won't honor it.... It's really ideal for anonymous tips." Students who wish to identify themselves can do so in the body of their text, Harvey said. Fear of speaking out is natural, said Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart, but not doing so can have disastrous consequences. Students whose identities are fully protected have no reason not to reach out, he said. "In almost every case of violence we've had in the schools throughout the country, almost always there's someone who knew about it, whether it's a friend who heard something or a text that was given or just an indication that something was going to take place," he said. "And of course, there's always regret, after it occurs, that they didn't come forward." But the hotline should be viewed as a safeguard "not just for incidents of violence," Taggart said. "We've had a lot of really tragic youth suicides and attempted youth suicides," he said, referring to the Weber School District over the past few years. Suicidal students keep their severe depression especially private from adults, Williams said. This means they and their friends are all uncertain whom to trust with the information. "The person who is thinking about suicide will sometimes hint toward their friends, just saying they're kind of sad or depressed or even tell them they have harmed themselves," Williams said. "But they just aren't comfortable telling an adult." A user-friendly, safe hotline may just be enough to tip the scales for a teenager wondering whether to say something, Harvey said. "They can do it without getting caught up in the drama." Contact reporter Ben Lockhart at 801-625-4221 or blockhart@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @SE_Lockhart. Like his Facebook page at www.face- book.com/blockhartSE.