Baltimore police to text crime alerts
It appears that the Baltimore Police Department is embarking on a test-run to text crime alerts to residents' cell phones. After saying the idea, which is used by many departments around the country including the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, was being studied, officials launched it today in the Southeastern District.
No announcement was made but for an e-mail sent out by the head of the Southeastern Police District's Community Relations Council, copying a statement from the district commander, Maj. Roger Bergeron.
I confirmed the start of this new program with the Police Department's chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, who told me it's a 30-day pilot run and if it works it will be implemented across the city: "If we're going to be successful in further lowering crime, the community needs to be a partner. Part of Frederick Bealefeld's strategy is not only to get cops out of cars to interact with residents and business owners, but arming the community with information so they can help us help them."
Here is the statement from Bergeron:
"I am proud to announce that the SED will be the pilot district for a community alert system. The system will go online today, Friday, April 17. We will run this pilot for 30 days and evaluate its effectiveness at the end. If successful it is anticipated that we will continue its use. This program will allow subscriber's to receive alerts via cell phone text message or email as they wish. The information put out will include information as to major crime within a quarter mile of an incident. We will include information as to significant arrests, community meetings, missing persons, and any other idea that we can think of that would benefit the community. A citizen may become a subscriber by logging on to www.nixle.com and follow the sign up instructions. This is a free program, however, costs may be incurred by their cell phone company depending on how they set up their contract with the phone provider (e.g. Pay per text message, etc...). I would encourage EVERYONE to sign up asap. Please alert as many residents as possible. I am excited about this new program and can't wait to see how it works out. Thank you!"
Categories: Confronting crime, Mapping crime, Neighborhoods
Comments
The ToS for nixle are problematic. You can't forward any of their messages without being in violation. The privacy policy says they release anonymized data only to third parties, however several academics have shown how such data can be deanonymized.
I really wish this was being done in-house. That I can't forward a text message or e-mail to a neighbour, plus the notice about not adhering to EU data privacy standards bothers me.
Posted by: Lissa | April 18, 2009 12:28 AM
I just got off the phone with Craig Mitnick, the CEO and founder of Nixle. He tells me the terms of service agreement is meant to stop wide-spread copying abuse, but is not meant to stop people from forwarding alerts to their neighbors. "We encourage the sharing of information," he told me.
Posted by: Peter Hermann | April 22, 2009 10:19 AM
Yet again, the city drops to ball! Are you kidding me? I am sure that the Nixle system is great and does what it was designed to do, like alert citizens about a water main break, which is very important. But can this tool really be used to reduce crime?
My company has attempted to offer the City of Baltimore an opportunity to solve crimes by allowing citizens a chance to interact with the police department via SMS text messaging. A two way messaging opportunity and it has fallen on deaf ears.
Although some people may find it useful to hear about an arrest in their neighborhood, the Nixle texting system is acting as a glorified PR application, or a security broadcast system. Not a crime fighting tool. (Once again I don’t believe there is anything wrong with that)
Imagine witnessing a crime or if you live in an abusive house hold and using the phone to alert the police could be dangerous. Now imagine being able to share that information anonymously with the Police by sending a text message. This is what we pitched to the police and as of now maybe they don't think enough people send text messages.
Posted by: Brandon | June 8, 2009 11:06 AM