CRIME PREVENTION GETS A BOOST WITH
NEW SEE SOMETHING, SEND SOMETHING® MOBILE APP
Virginia 3rd State in Nation to Launch Safety Mobile Application
With the month of December being one of the busiest times of the year for the Commonwealth’s airports, highways, malls, restaurants, movie theatres, places of worship, and countless festive venues, Virginia residents are encouraged to keep their environments safe. Because suspicious activity can happen anywhere at any time, Virginians now have another means of helping safeguard themselves and their community, especially during the holiday season.
Today VSP launched the new crime prevention mobile application See Something, Send Something®. The reporting app enables suspicious, criminal activity to be captured as a photo or written note and sent to the Virginia State Police.
“The fundamentals of investigating and solving a crime haven’t changed,” said Major Rick A. Jenkins, Deputy Director of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, at the press conference held in Prince William County, Va., Friday to launch the app. “But, keeping the public engaged with us through the crime-solving, tip-sharing process has evolved and now so have we. This app is simply the 21st century version of the traditional telephone crime tip line or hotline.”
The application, which can be downloaded at no cost for iPhone and Android phone users, also includes information on what to look for and when to report suspicious activity. The service is already available in Pennsylvania and Louisiana. The app does not replace 911 and should not to be used for someone needing immediate police action or to report an emergency.
The photograph or information submitted by a citizen via the app goes to the Virginia State Police for review and analysis. If the tip is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation or incident, then it will be forwarded on to the investigating law enforcement agency. If the tip is unfounded, then the information provided, and the name and phone number of the tip’s provider, are permanently deleted. There is no archiving of tips or collection database.
The app provider, My Mobile Witness, uses patent-pending privacy protection software for safeguarding the integrity of tips and citizens’ personal information. The system allows law enforcement to engage citizens without tracking one’s location or storing personal information.
Submitted tips are immediately removed from the mobile device and purged from the My Mobile Witness system once delivered to the Virginia State Police for analysis.
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