…Successful pilot of home office trailblazer project empowers local communities…
SURREY, England – Monday 11th June 2102 – Multizone Limited, an award winning independent UK based social and mobile software specialist, announced today that it’s Surrey Police App which enables the public to map Police activities and compare them with local reported crime is now available for iPhone and for Google Android based mobile devices.
Today’s new release extends the App with new capabilities including crime charts and police activity across Surrey where over 300 local officers have so far been equipped with low cost Google Android based mobile phones enabling them to engage online with the local community. The social interactions built into the Surrey Police App aim to encourage greater and faster engagement between police and local communities to help fight crime.
The software has carefully controlled built-in governance to ensure correct use of language by police officers, and delivers transparency in how crime is being addressed locally. Police officers and local community officers are easily able to share what they are doing locally without wasting time, confident that the public are immediately informed.
Members of the public using the App can also find out who is in their local police team, what their priorities are and details of upcoming meetings and events. The App enables individuals to get more involved in fighting neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour by replying, commenting or sharing information.
Chief Superintendent Gavin Stephens, Head of Neighbourhood Policing for Surrey Police commented, “The App is a really innovative and friendly way for us to engage with a broader community. Anyone can download the Surrey Police App to find out what’s happening right now, see the crime levels where they live, and contact us from their mobile phone using whatever method they feel most comfortable with – and more importantly communities are empowered to help fight crime in a safe way.”
Crime information from Government open data can be compared with police intervention activity at local, borough or county level. It takes a couple of taps on a mobile phone to share this information via email. This means that the public and the police can for the first time get the same picture of what crime is happening and how matters are being handled locally. The App also provides a direct link to Surrey Police new online crime reporting system specifically designed to work well with mobile phones and tablet computers.
Angus Fox, Director of British software company, Multizone Limited, commented, “Getting the Surrey wide App released on Android and iPhone is a significant milestone in our software development roadmap. We use only open and social data in our software platform, which means our Apps, are a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions and meet today’s needs for open social two-way engagement far better than traditional proprietary and private mobile solutions. Last week, we were named ‘Business of the Year’ at the Leatherhead and District Business Awards 2012 in recognition of our innovation and fresh approach in the current challenging environment. The Surrey App is a great example of how technology can be developed and embraced by the police forces and local communities. Our software platform is robust and scalable and is ready now to be applied in any other police force in the UK – and is being extended to include policing and local community partners and other workforces interested in genuine local social engagement.”
The Surrey Police App is available in the App store and on Google Play for free download by the general public. It provides information about what’s happening right now in local policing across the whole of Surrey, enabling fast two-way engagement between the police and local people using mobile phones.
