Neighborhood Crime Notification System
I was wondering if any of your cities have a crime notification system (similar to Amber Alerts, except to notify citizens, Neighborhood Watch Groups, etc, to be on the lookout for certain vehicles or people wanted for major crimes so they can call 911 if they spot them).
In its simplist form, it could simply be a big email list which the Police Department would use to send vehicle & crime descriptions to people's cell phones or email accounts.
But to simplify management, there are literally hundreds of pre-existing web sites which offer email list services - That would allow people to subscribe & un-subscribe to the list by going to the web site. That way, the email list would be self-managing so the PD would only have to write the messages and send them.
When I posed it to our Chief, he was hostile to it - But when I posed it to the PIO, he said something like that was already under consideration. So as usual I guess I'll have to go to the politicians to get a straight answer :doh:
I thought of this after the recent attempted child abduction that we had. The vehicle's description was so unique (gold pickup with lettering on the sides and red flames painted near the rear) that there is no doubt in my mind that a system like that could have caught the guy if enough people's cell phones were subscribed to the service - But to work, the notices would have to be put out within minutes of a crime, as soon as it's determined whether the report is creditable.
In our town, such events are rare, but the email list services are very cheap - In larger cities, wanted vehicles for major crimes like this are not so rare, so I guess the thing may be going off every 2 minutes unless the police only used it in extreme cases.
