Set in Boston, the Martin Scorsese movie The Departed includes scenes where mobsters use text messages to communicate as the cops close in. Now VeriSign is using the same technology to help that city’s police fight violent crimes – the first such use of SMS in the United States.

In the new Boston Crime Stoppers text messaging system, citizens can text tips to CRIME (27463). VeriSign’s platform masks the sender’s phone number and other personal information before forwarding the tip to the Boston Police Department. That anonymity should help encourage tips from people concerned about being implicated in a crime. The VeriSign platform also allows cops to send text messages to tipsters in order to collect more details, such as descriptions of the persons involved.

Hill Holliday Mobile Marketing worked with VeriSign to implement the SMS tip line, which launched June 15. VeriSign says it currently handles about 60 percent of all intercarrier SMS traffic in the United States. The Boston Crime Stoppers system is the latest example of how companies such as VeriSign are looking for new applications to continue to grow the SMS market, which is mature in the United States and many other countries.