App to anonymously report crimes

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Anonymous reports are an important mean of law inforcement for relevant authorities in order to do their job well, since you can’t put a police officer on every street corner. In Israel some bodies make use of what is called “Malshinon” (meaning something like “little snitch”), among them the Israel police and taxes authorities. The idea, however, isn’t unique to the holy land and other places in the world are using it to better enforce the law. The Pittsburgh police has decided to apply this idea in the form of an app to report crimes anonymously through smart cellphones, after being impressed of its use by the Puerto-Rico police.

The application, as it is used in the South American country, allows the user to report crimes taking place by choosing an icon which characterizes the stype of crime, such as assault, rape or animal abuse. The anonymous reporter must also state in the report the date and hour of the event, describe it briefly and add an image or video if one should happen to exist. The report can be filled out in English or Spanish and once complete, it’s transfered to the Puerto-Rico police.

In light of the app’s success, several more bodies have begun to take interest, among them two cities in the state of Kentucky, U.S., where it is already being applied successfuly, as well as law enforcement authorities in other cities.