U Delaware Community To Text Crime Alerts to Cops

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/24/13
The University of Delaware's new security app allows users to report details of potential crimes, including address, activity description, subject description, vehicle description, and a photograph, to local police.
The University of Delaware's new security app allows users to report details of potential crimes, including address, activity description, subject description, vehicle description, and a photograph, to local police.

The University of Delaware has adopted a mobile app for Android and Apple devices that allows the user to make a tip to the police. The same app is being issued by the state's government. It was developed by NIC, a company that creates e-government services and Web sites for government agencies.

The new app takes details about potential crimes, including address, activity description, subject description, vehicle description, and a photograph. The app can also capture the location of the phone and use that in the tip. The user can choose to submit the report anonymously or with contact details. The tips go directly to campus police for follow-up.

"We already provide crime mapping information through our Raids Crime Mapping App and feel strongly that it is important to complement this service with a smartphone app," said U Delaware Chief of Police Patrick Ogden "This is another tool for our citizens to anonymously share information that could be the key investigative link to solve a case." The mapping app shows a geographic area around the university and the types of events for which the police have been called, including thefts, sexual assaults, and other crimes.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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