Citizens of Queenslanders, Australia, now have the ability to report lost and damaged property, graffiti, and loitering via a newly developed mobile phone app. Mere hours after issuing their Annual Statistical Review, Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson and Police Minister Jack Dempsey released the PoliceLink app which enables citizens to contact their local police with the push of a button.
Now available for free on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry, PoliceLink cost $53,000 to develop. According to Dempsey, “The reporting tool works by asking people to give responses to a standard set of questions, which will be reviewed by police, who will then follow the matter up.” The app will complement the PoliceLink hotline, which has saved police more than 260,000 hours each year and taken more than 2.3 million calls since 2010.
The Police Department believes that this app will help assist citizens in all non-urgent police matters that include “situations where there is no likelihood of the suspected offenders still being within the area.” Commissioner Atkinson says that the app will be especially useful for “tourists, people from remote and regional areas, and people with impaired hearing.”
This app is another excellent example of how technology continues to make people’s lives easier and more efficient all over the globe.