Community on Patrol App: Engage your community with app-based policing

By Jeff King, Microsoft Principal Solutions Architect, Public Safety and Justice

March 29, 2016

An all-too-common story
Turning on the news on September 17, we all witnessed a familiar story of late—another act of terror in a major U.S. city. Someone had placed homemade explosive devices on street corners in New York and New Jersey with the intent to harm as many people as possible. This isn’t an uncommon theme in global news either. Threats to public safety and terrorism extend well beyond the borders of the United States: Belgium, France, Lebanon, Iraq, India, and the UK are only a few countries impacted over the last few years. Terrorism is a global crisis, and how communities and public safety agencies respond moving forward will be critical in helping to minimize its negative impact.

Public safety is a focal point for law enforcement agencies and elected officials worldwide. But how can they address the challenges brought forth by the 21^st century criminal? The “lone wolf” is becoming smarter, leveraging technologies like mobile phones, encrypted communication networks, social media, and the Internet to more efficiently commit crimes and carry out large-scale attacks.

“Force multipliers” and predicting the unpredictable
In response, public safety officials are building their own technology arsenal. For example, agencies are investing in sensor-based technologies designed to be “force multipliers”: cameras, gunshot detectors, license plate readers, vehicle locators, and social media monitoring tools, all designed for officers who can’t be everywhere at once. And while agencies are becoming more efficient at capturing information, they continue to struggle to analyze that data and proactively respond.

The biggest challenge is that many crimes are sporadic and difficult to predict. Cities can deploy thousands of cameras and sensors, but without some form of human analysis, it’s nearly impossible to deploy resources quickly enough to subdue potential threats. Unless public safety agencies can involve more people in the analysis process, they will continue to face challenges at scale.

So how do we solve the problem? We’re not about to turn all our citizens into police officers and have them work side-by-side with the police, are we? As we’ve seen recently, another popular story in the news suggests exactly the opposite. Trust in law enforcement and police transparency and community collaboration is at a low. Additionally, many private citizens have little interest in reporting information to police out of the fear they’ll be identified or targeted by their peers.

Mobile device proliferation and the power of many
The reality, however, is that regardless of whether citizens want to engage with police, they already do. Mainstream media is full of videos and photos of police and community encounters, all captured by citizens on mobile devices. With such a huge proliferation of these personal devices, there’s now a wealth of information being captured that can be used by law enforcement to help them improve public safety and fight crime.

A good example of this practice comes from the 2012 Boston Marathon bombings. Following the incident, the city asked that private citizens send them photos and videos captured of the area leading up to the attack. Using this data, law enforcement officials identified the perpetrators Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev within a few days, before they could carry out another attack.

Miami-Dade: Deputizing 2.7 million residents with the Community on Patrol app
One city in south Florida is facing the challenge of citizen and police engagement head-on. In 2014, Microsoft met with the Mayor of Miami-Dade, Carlos Gimenez, who asked if we could help them develop a new crime-fighting technology. He wanted to scale the efforts of law enforcement by turning the city’s 2.7 million residents into virtual police officers and solve the problem of police transparency by having officers work together with citizens to help respond to crime. Early in February of 2015, Microsoft began working with the Miami-Dade Police Department and their partner Zco Inc. to develop a new mobile app for citizens called Community on Patrol (COP).

Using the COP app on their mobile phones, citizens can report tips, noting the location of a crime or incident and uploading video, photos, and notes directly to the Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) in Miami-Dade. In addition, citizens can use location services and map-based UI to report the crime location. If police intervention is required, the RTCC works with 911 dispatchers to brief a responding patrol officer ahead of time, which wouldn’t be communicated in a traditional 911 call. The officer can then anticipate threat level and develop a plan before they arrive on scene.

One critical app feature is the ability for the user to opt in or out of providing information about themselves. The city has found that many citizens wanted to keep their identity private out of fear of being implicated or facing retribution.

The Community on Patrol app officially launched for Miami-Dade citizens in June 2016. In its first four months, more than 2,300 people have installed the app and submitted 118 tips that have resulted in the closure of six separate incidents. In one case, a citizen tip from the COP app reported that a suspicious individual was “possibly casing” an area. A police officer was immediately dispatched to the scene, and subsequent investigation led to the individual’s arrest.

Click here to see the Community on Patrol app in action and hear from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

The ability for one to impact many is growing exponentially
Communities worldwide face a growing challenge when it comes to public safety and national security. Law enforcement is doing its best to respond, but with help from private citizens, first responder effectiveness can be greatly improved. Communities and agencies have a long road ahead. While important, cameras systems and sensor devices are only part of solving the scale and force multiplier challenge. Police and citizens need to resolve trust and transparency issues and re-establish mutual respect. Solutions like the Community on Patrol app that get communities working together to solve problems can help.

If you’re ready to work together with your community and would like more information on how app-based policing works, download the Modern Policing Solutions infographic.