Tshwane metro police are piloting a mobile safety application that could eventually be replicated elsewhere to help South Africans in the fight against crime.
Namola, a mobile application that enables users to alert the nearest metro police officers with the click of a button, will be piloted in Monument Park for the next five weeks.
“The intention of the Namola pilot is to examine new ways in which smartphone and GPS technologies can be used to combat crime,” Craig Rivett, partner in Ever Africa, said.
Ever Africa was established by Sibella and Alan Knott-Craig Jnr in 2013 to pursue their respective passions of using technology to make Africa a better place in a commercially sustainable way.
Rivett said when an app user within Monument Park opens the Namola application and clicks the ‘Get Armed Response’ button, an alert is sent to the dashboard-mounted smartphones in the closest three available response vehicles. The first responder to indicate they are available to assist is automatically directed to the requesting user by GPS technology.
The requesting user is shown a photo of the responder and their name. They are also able to phone them, or the police, directly. Rivett said the pilot project will run in Monument Park until 15 March.
The signal coverage for the pilot is clearly defined on the application with all uncovered areas being shaded in red on the in-app map. When the app is outside of the coverage area the ‘Get Armed Response’ button becomes ‘Call Police’. This dials the 10111 national police call centre.
“The Namola app does not create new infrastructure. It merely provides a new mechanism for residents to alert nearby responders,” he said.
Metro police chief Steven Ngobeni said: “This pilot is the first step in understanding how this new technology can be used to make all in Pretoria and South Africa safer.”
The Namola app is currently available for download from the Google Play store. For more information about the app, click here.
For more breaking news, visit Rekord’s websites:
Also visit our Facebook and Twitter pages.
