“There’s got to be a better way….” It’s not only a general statement regarding the fight against rural property crime, it was the driving principle behind the development of a new app in Alberta to provide citizens with a better way to share information with neighbours and police when crimes or suspicious activity occur.

The team behind this new app, called “Crowd Security,” consists of Blake Moser, President of the East 13 Rural Crime Watch, from the Hardisty area; Trent Kenyon, a Beaver County community Peace Officer and former 15-year RCMP member; and Geographical Information systems expert Gary Zhang, from the Calgary area.

Moser says that Kenyon, who from his 15 years with the RCMP, had the initial idea for a rural crime app that would allow for the instant sharing of crimes and photos with neighbours and with police.

By chance, Kenyon attended a presentation from MRF Geosystems, by Zhang, on geographic information systems (GIS). GIS is a framework for gathering, managing, and analyzing data, integrating layers of information and spatial locations into maps. The company provides this service to half of Alberta’s counties, giving them a real depth of knowledge about rural Alberta.

Moser says Kenyon approached Zhang afterwards about his idea, and shortly thereafter a company was formed between the three, and the Crowd Security app was created. Zhang’s company is responsible for the design of the app.

So what exactly does the app do?

Crimes and suspicious activity can be reported and shared via the app, with pictures, videos, and texts. That’s where the GIS information kicks in, pinpointing where the activities are happening, and sending alerts to other users in range.

“While police are enroute, citizens in the area can safely keep an eye on what’s happening and continue to report, leaving a trail of evidence for police.”

Moser says the more people who use the app in a specific area, the more information can be shared.

The team believes that part of the reason why rural property crime rates are higher than those in urban areas is due to a number of factors, including longer police response times due to distances involved, fewer witnesses, the trusting nature of rural Albertans, and an endless number of grid roads useable for a getaway after a crime is committed.

“Our app solves these problems by enabling citizens to easily share information with other citizens in the area using the application.”

Moser says the East 13 Rural Crime Watch has had a number of successes in helping police apprehend criminals, but this is largely dependent on someone, usually him, being available to update the society’s social media, something he’s not always available to do.

He says, “Technology is the only way we can solve some of these property crime issues.”

The app eliminates the need for a central organization to be active and on hand to share citizen’s information or photos, but will give rural crime watches an effective tool for sharing instant information among members.

The group says, “It’s not a new solution, as it draws from the formation of the first modern police force in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel.

“He said, ‘The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.’”

Moser feels the greatest strengths of the app are not only the ability to pinpoint locations where rural crime or suspicious activity is taking place, but also that it empowers citizens to report information on an ‘as happening’ basis.

Where social media depends on users to be actively monitoring rural crime accounts continuously to be as effective, the app sends out alerts to all users, with activity mapped, and allows users to share texts, photos, and even video, along with notification when police have been called.

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Leslie Cholowsky
Editor