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SFPD spokesman Officer Robert Rueca says a big concern is that the raw information the company is drawing from is fluid. A recent web ad depicts a fictional scene in which app users help police track a suspected kidnapper through the streets of San Francisco. But some of the messaging portraying Citizen as a crimefighting app has persisted. It relaunched last year as Citizen.Ī company statement said the app had refocused its mission on public safety. The prototype debuted in New York in late 2016 but was pulled from app stores within weeks over safety concerns. Some of the backlash stems from the app’s original name: Vigilante. Some critics also worry the app could encourage users to flock to the scene of an emergency instead of running for safety in the other direction. “The ultimate goal is to increase transparency,” Artz says.īut some tech bloggers have raised concerns about the potential Citizen has to spread misinformation or violate the privacy of crime victims. (Peter Arcuni/KQED)Īccording to Artz, the company envisions that content created by users will help inform local newsrooms and law enforcement, in addition to the public. Users share video and comments about a reported incident of a man who was shot in the leg near a BART station. The company's Twitter feed features some of the more urgent content generated from the app. The content might include videos of emergency crews arriving or locals texting about what they can see from their window. "Something that would affect the route you took to work or where you sent your kids at night wasn’t public knowledge to you," she says.Īrtz gives an example of an alert that Citizen sent to over 6,000 users in New York on Halloween, cautioning them to stay out of Lower Manhattan, where a man driving a pickup truck sped into a crowd of people, killing eight.Īnother feature of the app allows users to livestream their own photos, videos and comments from the scene. “Instead of getting some police jargon and radio codes that probably don’t make sense to you, we’re giving you the information the way that you understand it the best,” Artz says.Įach call, or incident, is then tagged with a location for mapping.Īrtz says the idea is to give people the public safety information that’s out there because, for the most part, it's inaccessible. The company hires trained technicians to monitor emergency dispatch calls - the kind of call you'd hear from a police scanner - and translate them into plain English for users.
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“So when you see sirens racing by, or you hear a helicopter flying by overhead, you’ll get an alert, and from there you can make a safe and informed decision about where you move.”Ĭitizen says it has amassed roughly 250,000 users in San Francisco and New York, the other city where it provides service. “It’s a hyperlocal, real-time source of everything that could affect your safety happening at that moment,” says Lea Artz, head of operations for Citizen. Tapping on a red dot brings up a timeline with updates like “Officers are on scene” or “Suspect wearing orange hoodie.” You can also set the app to alert you when an incident occurs within a quarter-mile of your location.
On a recent morning in San Francisco, these red dot incidents included the following: Citizen's interactive crime map displays recent incidents in San Francisco. Any emergency incidents unfolding across the city are represented as red dots. When you launch the app it brings up a city map. Think of it as police scanner, neighborhood watch, Yelp and Twitter all rolled into one. The app debuted in San Francisco in September. It's this type of scenario the smartphone app Citizen is trying to address with its new crime tracker.
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Should I get up and leave or stay put? Do I start the car or run to the neighbor’s house? In that moment you have no idea what to do. After a few minutes of lying in bed, panic starts to set in. You fumble in the dark for your mobile phone the screen shows it’s just after 3 a.m. Red and blue lights flash through your window shades.