The Bloomington, Ill., Police Department has launched a new system where residents can submit police tips anonymously via text message.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Maryland filed suit against the Baltimore Police Department over the aerial surveillance program approved by the city’s financial board April 1 in a divided vote.

Early into Michael Harrison’s tenure as Baltimore’s police commissioner, the company Persistent Surveillance Systems presented him with an idea to reduce the city’s murder rate – airborne wide-area surveillance.