A phone application which allows rural residents to report suspicious activity has been launched by the Hanna RCMP and Hanna Rural Crime Watch in an effort to combat rural crime.
The app allows residents to file reports of suspicious activity including uploading descriptions and images of suspects, vehicles and other details to Hanna RCMP and other users of the app. RCMP members then receive a notification on their work devices which can be used to aid their work. App users also see reports so they are alerted to watch for potential criminal activity.
“Crime was starting to become a problem in our area and that made me think to get something started and it just went from there,” says Hanna RCMP Constable Braden Marlow, who helped develop the software in partnership with Calgary developer Terrance May.
“I came up with this idea with Terrance to combat this and give people a resource which makes them feel like something’s being done about it – to do something front line that they can initiate and send out to members,” he said.
Although it is still being developed and described as being in its early stages, Cst. Marlow says the app has a lot of potential in being an effective tool for law enforcement in rural areas. The idea of crowdsourcing information from residents in this way is a first in the province and maybe the country.
And the idea is catching on. Officials from both Starland County and Drumheller RCMP have met with Cst. Marlow and have shown interest in developing their own apps for the region.
But the app is not a replacement to traditional policing methods.
“The one thing we’ve said since the beginning is that this isn’t a replacement for 911 but is an tool for people in rural properties,” says Cst. Marlow, saying residents still need to contact 911 but this tool can be used in to help assist officers and to alert other app users. The app allows other rural residents to react to members' reports of crimes and be notified to watch for suspicious activity in the area.
“If you see something wrong or a suspicious vehicle you can put the info down and it sends a message to us to use and we will monitor from there and set up a strategy.”
The application is called ‘Hanna Rural Crime Watch’ and can currently be downloaded on the Google Play app store.