We are used to the Police giving us advice on how to avoid scams like the missed call scam or the WhatsApp scam by pretending to be a family member, but we rarely see state security forces and organs recommend an application for our mobile.
That’s exactly what the police are doing with “Alertcops,” a free Android app that acts as a two-way channel between
citizens and police forces. So what? For example, send a crime or risk situation alert of which you are a victim or witness.
With SOS button and alerts in your area
A few days apart, on its social networks, the Ministry of the Interior shared a video with advice for returning home at night and the National Police published a safety recommendation for the Camino de Santiago. What do the two publications have in common? What did they talk about? the ‘Alertcops’ applicationavailable for free for Android (and for iOS).
This application was released years ago, has a somewhat archaic design and does not have recent updates, but it remains a tool recommended by state security forces and agencies. On its website, the Ministry of the Interior explains that it is a complementary channel for contact the National Police and the Civil Guard quickly, directly, discreetly and efficiently.
The idea is that “any person, regardless of language, origin or hearing or speech disability, can communicate with the Police and Civil Guard an alert, information, data or news about a criminal act or security incident of the victim or witness”.
Once downloaded and installed on your mobile, you just need to register as a new user by providing your information and GPS activation. The latter is used by the Police or the Civil Guard to geolocate you in case of emergency.
From there, if anything happens to you or you see something suspicious, just select from the icon menu the alert you want to send: theft, theft or assault, assault or beating, animal abuse, gender violence, sexual assault…
Then you will need to answer the questions asked by the system using icons before sending the alert. Where did it happen? Who did it happen to? Law enforcement may open a chat with you to obtain more information.
One of its most useful functions is “Guardian”, which allows you to share your location with an emergency contact and/or with state security forces and agencies. It also has an SOS button to discreetly request help by pressing an icon on the main screen of the mobile. It is possible that 10 seconds of audio will be sent as an annex to the alert.
And in addition, you can receive notifications report an emergency occurring in the area where you are or advice and alerts from special security devices deployed when you attend an event.
Images | Alertcops, Ministry of the Interior
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