Feds, Somalis partner to allow nationwide online reporting of crimes in native language

Tip system allows Somalis to report crime online

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The FBI, Somali immigrant groups and an anti-crime group are announcing a nationwide effort that will let Somalis report crime anonymously online in their native language.

The project is being led by an Ohio crime stopper’s group in Columbus, which has the nation’s second-largest Somali population. It will allow tips from anywhere in the U.S.

Somali community leaders have grown concerned about street crimes being committed by some youth as well as the recruiting of young Somali men by terrorists overseas.

More than a dozen people have been charged in an ongoing federal investigation in Minnesota into the travels of as many as 20 young men who went to Somalia to fight.