Wednesday, December 4, 2013

UK's Panic Button App


Last year we reported on CrimePush, an innovative way for citizens to use the power of a smartphone to capture and report evidence of a crime to police, and/or request help. Now, UK firm DataMe has decided to come at this same issue but with a different twist. Its product, PanicMe, is a smartphone app that allows users to report perceived level of threat or need for help over a private monitoring network which can include up to 30 friends. Coupled with a location tracking feature, reports are filtered by friends and then passed along to authorities as deemed appropriate. Below for more:

(DataMe Press Release, October 21, 2013)



Comment: Kudos to both CrimePush and PanicMe for thinking about how to leverage the power of the smartphone. However, in both cases, the concern is: Have inventive minds in the private sector outpaced the willingness of public sector authorities to "buy-in" to these new approaches? 

Graphic: PanicMe

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