The Socionical Crowd Sourcing app, which has been developed in conjunction with the London School of Economics, enables visitors to the City to download real-time information about the Force and vital information as a result of a serious or catastrophic incident in the city. The app is now available to download from the app store.

Not only will the information available cover policing priorities, wards policing information and location of useful resources, but direct feeds from the Force Twitter and website will keep users up to date with important messages.

Sgt Rebecca Walker from Emergency Planning, who has been at the forefront of ensuring the app has come to fruition said, “As well as giving people information about the Force, the app can let us send out messages in the event of a major incident, which is extremely valuable.”

In addition, the most unique and interesting part of the app is that it can create real time crowd sourcing maps which will allow the Force to monitor the density and movement of crowds. This can help to inform our policing response during emergencies or events”.

Users will have the choice of opting in to be part of the crowd sourcing, and a trial at the Lord Mayors Show proved to be successful in terms of tracking crowd density.

Much work has been done in terms of the legal and privacy implications of the app, which means very clear communications around data protection and privacy, ensuring that users feel safe and comfortable in using the app whilst in the City.

The app comes as part of an EU funded project ensuring the communities within the City of London have access to important information at no cost to the Force.

For further information, contact Christine Townsend @ceetownsend