DATE: Friday, November 28, 1997             TAG: 9711280051

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                   LENGTH:   46 lines

NEW U.VA. E-MAIL PROGRAM LETS STUDENTS HELP CAMPUS POLICE OFFICIALS SAY THE ANONYMOUS TIPS SENT VIA THE INTERNET ARE HELPING FIGHT CRIME.

Police at the University of Virginia have a new weapon in their fight against campus crime - e-mail.

The department got permission in July to send mass e-mails to the school's more than 20,000 students, faculty and staff describing crimes and asking for witnesses. Police also have a new feature on their home page, called Silent Witness, which allows students to leave anonymous crime tips.

University police say it's already worked in one case. Four students, all members of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, turned themselves in to police Tuesday after reading a police mass e-mail describing an assault on another student.

The victim, Alexander Kory, 18, was jumped, beaten and kicked early last Friday morning near the center of the school's campus. The four men who came forward after the e-mail report have been charged with malicious wounding, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. They also face punishment from the university's student-run judiciary committee.

That incident was the first arrest under the new system, but police have gotten dozens of tips on various crimes on the campus.

``Potentially, we could gain valuable information that would help us solve difficult cases,'' said Sandy Hufford, a university police investigator. ``Sometimes people want to help the police, but they don't want to be involved with an official report. This program . . . eliminates that problem.''

The anonymous tip part of the program lets students connect to the police home page and select a Silent Witness icon. The Silent Witness page gives spaces for the witness to record times, dates, locations and suspect descriptions. The e-mail is then encrypted to protect the sender's identity.

``There's a need for this, especially at a time of national awareness of the need for safety and security on campuses,'' said Michael Sheffield, U.Va.'s chief of police.

The program was copied from a similar one started at the University of Richmond. The Richmond version has met with success as well, said university Police Chief Robert C. Dillard: Three students were indicted on drug charges last spring after police received tips via Silent Witness.

``We've also gotten information on larcenies and thefts,'' Dillard said.

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