Tip system allows Somalis to report crime online
The FBI, Somali immigrants and an anti-crime group are announcing a nationwide effort allowing Somalis to report crime anonymously online in their native language.
The effort is being led by an Ohio crime stopper's group in Columbus, which has the nation's second-largest Somali population, but will allow tips from anywhere in the U.S.
Somali 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.
An FBI spokesman says the Minneapolis FBI already allows Somalis to leave information or ask questions in Somali on the agency's web site.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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