A new smartphone app launched by a local crime watch group will enable ordinary citizens to participate in policing their own community.
The Disorder Reporter app, now available for iPhones and Androids, enables residents to take a photo and report any “disorder” they see in their neck of the woods. This includes everything from vandalism to potholes, or a street light outage.
“See it, take a photo, we do the rest,” said Dale Fetterly, app developer and director of the Neighbourhood Watch Association of St. Albert. “We made it as easy as possible for civic minded individuals to contribute to their community.”
Fetterly, a retired software developer, explained the idea for the app was born from his volunteer work with the RCMP, collecting statistics on the amount of graffiti in the city.
Photos of graffiti would come in from the public works department, but contributions from schools, transit and the public in general were left out, which created a hole in the graffiti problem picture.
The purpose of the app is to connect citizens with the party responsible for dealing with the disorder – disrepair, public hazard, suspicious person, item or activity – and “empower (them) by making it easy to report things that aren't right.”
“That’s one of the problems people have, who do I call? Who deals with these problems? Now that’s taken away because you just send it to us and we figure it out,” said Fetterly.
Once a person uses the app to take a photo of something that needs attention, the photo with its geolocation and any comments the user wishes to add is reviewed by a volunteer from Neighbourhood Watch or Citizens Patrol.
When possible, the submission is assigned to a volunteer that lives in the community to ensure legitimacy and that no duplicate reports are forwarded to the appropriate third party – for example the city or a utility company – that deals with the problem.
Upon receipt of the submission, users will receive confirmation that their photo has been processed and can opt to stay notified about its status. Photos will be reviewed on a daily basis, but it may take several days or weeks for the responsible party to fix the problem.
Fetterly said he currently has three volunteer photo analysts, but is looking for more. The problem right now is, there haven’t been very many photo submissions.
“There’s also the issue that there’s not that many things in need of attention in St. Albert,” admitted Fetterly. “Frankly the city does a pretty good job of fixing things right away.”
Although the app began with a focus on St. Albert, people can report problems from all over the Edmonton region including Morinville, Sherwood Park, Stony Plain and Leduc. The result is a better picture of disorder and crime-related issues across the region.
“Now what we need is people to get out there and start using it!” added Fetterly.
The Disorder Reporter app for BlackBerry is still under development. For more information visit Neighbourhood Watch’s website at: http://www.eyewatch.info.
