Choose a contact channel for a public appeal

An appeal needs a clear way for a witness to pass on information. Listing several personal numbers may appear helpful, but it can scatter leads and expose more people to unwanted calls. Choose the contact route with the family and the responsible authority.

Decide who should receive information

Use an official case contact where that is the agreed public channel. If an authorized family contact is appropriate, make sure that person knows the number or address will be public and can manage incoming messages.

Do not assume that a number visible on an old poster is still suitable. Confirm that the channel is current before circulating it again.

State one clear action

The appeal should tell a witness what to do, such as passing information to the named authority with the case reference. Avoid asking strangers to publish sightings in comments, approach someone, or transport them to a private address.

• Is the contact route authorized for public use?
• Is someone responsible for reviewing incoming information?
• Can urgent information be escalated promptly?
• Is there a plan to close or change the route later?

Keep private coordination elsewhere

A family group chat is not automatically a public tip line. Do not invite unknown people into a group containing private updates and relatives' phone numbers.

When using a platform, check how it actually handles contact information rather than assuming every form field is public. Wakif's public report data does not expose reporter contact fields; that does not make phone numbers typed into a public description private.