'Citizen' App, Which Sends Crime, Safety Alerts, Launches In Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Whether the emergency is a fire or a working crime scene, an app called "Citzen" sees a market in Baltimore.
"Obviously there are public safety issues here, like there is in New York and San Francisco, and we're excited to be here," said Citizen Spokesman Peter Donald.
The app's website dramatizes the collection of information from police calls and social media postings.
"9-1-1. What's your emergency? I'm in Prospect Park right now by the playground. There's a man here who pulled out a gun,"
"We have a bunch of central analysts who are monitoring this information 24 hours a day, and putting that into our app so users can stay safe," Donald said. "We'll push you real time notifications, hyper locally,"
Which means a quarter mile in each direction from your location. When there's nothing that close, it posts other incidents citywide.
The Citizen app claims 600,000 users in New York. It pushes reports of most crimes, but not suspicious people, packages or suicides.
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