Stopping crime before it starts – now there’s an app for that. The Fort Myers Police Department unveiled a new app that allows people to send anonymous tips to officers.
Police officers are hoping residents will use their fingers to help them fight crime.
“It kind of takes a combination of everything that we do in social media and it puts it in one spot,” said Fort Myers Police Chief Doug Baker. “It ties everything together as a one-stop-shop and I think it will be beneficial for the user and beneficial for us.”
The app, called Fort Myers Police News – is currently available for Android phones and on computers – pulling together Facebook, Twitter, news releases from the department and YouTube videos of suspects.
“It really just takes the initiative of the citizen to say, ‘I want to be involved. I care about my neighborhood. I care about the community and I’m here to do my part,'” Chief Baker said.
It also allows for anonymous tips.
The police department has seen success through other ways of sending in the anonymous now this app is just one more outlet to prevent crime.
“What we should be doing is being very proactive, not reactive to what the needs of the community are, to where the crime is occurring and I think that the app is just an extra layer of providing that information so that we have he ability to respond that much quicker,” Chief Baker said.
Quicker, he says, to bring the area’s crime rate down and keep residents safe.
“You don’t know what the ripple effect is going to be from that one person, that one arrest, that one contact from that one engagement – you just don’t know,” said Chief Baker.
The app is only available for Android phones right now. The Apple version will be released in the next few weeks.
http://www.nbc-2.com/story/18117076/2012/05/03/fmpd-releases-android-app