Fishers Police Develop Crime Reporting App
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe assistant chief of police in Fishers has developed an app to make reporting crime and suspicious activity easier for residents. Ed Gebhart says the Fishers CrimeWatch app has seen success since launching in May, with nearly 3,600 users, 400 incidents reported and one arrest made as a result. Gebhart developed the app with Auri Rahimzadeh, owner of Auri’s Ideas, which is based out of Launch Fishers.
Gebhart says he came up with the idea as a way to link police officers with a younger generation that tends to use their smartphones to communicate in ways other than making traditional phone calls. Rahimzadeh says Gebhart pitched the idea more than two years ago at a "code and coffee" event, which led to the partnership.
Users can choose from a variety of incidents on the app and the report will go directly to all Fishers Police officers on duty. The officers can then mark that they are responding to the report, which the users can see on the app. Gebhart says, however, the app is not a replacement for major emergencies.
"It doesn’t replace emergency 911. We still want people to call dispatch for emergency 911-related stuff," said Gebhart. "This is for that in-between stuff that you look at and you think you may need a police officer."
Rahimzadeh says they are slowly rolling out new features and hope to include a community event calendar on the app in the near future. Gebhart says he would like to take the app to the next level and make it county-wide, bringing more law enforcement agencies into the fold.