The Nation Crime Research Centre (NCRC) today launched a mobile phone app that will help in monitoring and reporting crime in real time. The new app will capture the consent to report crimes, description of crime incidence, location and evidence in form of audio, photo, and pdf in the online application.
NCRC Chief Executive Officer Gerald Wandera said about 70 per cent of crimes in the country go unreported because people fear visiting police stations. “The app will significantly reduce unreported crime, because it has security features that will guarantee the information received will be held in confidence and the privacy of those who report crimes will be respected,” he said. “The new App will give real time reporting of crimes that usually go unreported and ensure they are documented and acted upon.”
Speaking on Tuesday in Nairobi during the launch, Mr Wandera said the app can be downloaded from a smartphone with Android, Windows or IOS operating systems. The app will use pop-ups guides where the user will give details of an incident, in a simple format where they will be identified as a “witness” or a “victim” of crime.
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Mr Wandera said the data entered will be received in real time at the NCRC and forwarded to concerned authorities for monitoring and investigation. “This is a community intelligence gathering system which will complement the OB reporting in police stations,” he added.
Chairman of NCRC governing council Attorney General Githu Muigai said the app will help in the fight against crime in the country. “The information to be gathered from the data centre will help identify crime hot-spots and help to prevent crime given that it is real time,” said Mr Muigai.
The AG said the agencies serving in the criminal justice system will use data captured to come up with policies with a view to averting crime.
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