How Santa Cruz PD got access to over 30% of their population by releasing a mobile app developed by MobilePD.
The Santa Cruz Police Department serves a small beach community in Northern California. In late 2011, Santa Cruz PD worked with MobilePD on the first branded mobile app in the nation.
Agency:
Santa Cruz Police Department
Location:
Santa Cruz, CA
Population:
60,342
Customer Since:
January 2011
The Problem
Santa Cruz Police released that relying on traditional methods of communicating with the public, such as press releases or press conferences, wasn't enough to reach many in their community. In addition, they wanted to provide a tool that would promote transparency between the department and their residents, while fostering positive relations with the community.
The Solution
In September 2010, Santa Cruz Police contacted MobilePD about developing a mobile app for their department. At this time, there were no departments in the entire nation that had released a mobile app, so by a collaborative effort, Santa Cruz PD Mobile was released to their community. The first version included News, Videos, Photo Albums, a Scanner Feed, Crime Maps, Tip Submit, and Nixle Alerts.
The Results
By releasing a mobile app, Santa Cruz PD accomplished everything they had hoped, and even more. SCPD was praised as the first department in the US to release a consumer focused mobile app, resulting in positive press. More importantly, SCPD now has a medium for disseminating information to the public in real time. This has resulted in a large amount of downloads, but more importantly, increased communication and tips received by the department.
20,000+ App Downloads
SCPD's iOS and Android apps have been downloaded by over 20,000 users. This represents over 30% of their population.
300% Increase in Tips
Since releasing their app, SCPD's anonymous tips increased by over 300% -- resulting in several solved crimes and even helped find a missing child.
Award Winning
SCPD won the prestigious Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in Public Safety at the 2011 League of California Cities Annual Conference.
Interview with Chief Kevin Vogel
Before deciding on a mobile application, what challenges were you facing?
"Over the last few years we’ve found that simply relying on traditional methods of communicating with the public, such as press releases or press conferences, wasn’t enough to reach many in our community. Many people are receiving information in different ways and smartphones are a significant method of news and information for our residents. We knew we had to be a part of this shift and creating a mobile app has been instrumental in providing accessible information to our community."
How has a mobile app helped solve these challenges?
"We’ve had a remarkable number of downloads of our iPhone and Droid apps. In fact, we’ve found that many people (including local news outlets) rely on information we put out via our apps as their primary source of communication with our department. It has proven invaluable to sharing alerts, photos, receiving tips and simply highlighting the great work our officers do everyday."
Do you believe that a mobile application would be an asset to most law enforcement agencies?
"Information consumption is changing. People are receiving news and information through social media, apps and other methods all of the time. We believe that opportunities like this mobile app aren’t just technological options, they are technological essentials. How else will we reach our entire community if we’re not communicating with them in these new ways?"
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