The National Police Service has developed a mobile application to assist women report threats and crime.
The app developed in collaboration with UN Women and Crown Trust has been equipped with unique features to make it easy to reach the police without creating any suspicion.
Commissioner of Police Dominick Kisavi said the app which goes live on 20th July 2022 will go a long way in taming the rising cases of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the country.
The application which is geo-sensitive, he said has been linked to all Sub-County Police Commanders and the national command center for swift response.
Available on Playstore, users in distress, through shaking their devices, an automatic alert shall be generated and relayed to the nearest police station. “The officer in charge will in turn deploy officers to track the device and assist the person in distress,” he said.
“Officers who fail to respond will be alerted by the national command center where the app shall also be monitored,” he said. Through the app, a person who feels his life is in danger can also record footage from the location and send to the police.
“A bystander who happens to witness an incident can also record and send through the app after which officers from the nearest police station will follow up,” he said.
“The Inspector General of Police will monitor the app from a dashboard in office to ensure that all cases reported are attended to,”” he added.
In an interview with KNA, Kisavi said NPS was working with Safaricom to develop a USSD code for the app to be used by those who don’t have smart phones.
The development was a departure from the traditional ways of reporting crime and will go a long way in curbing insecurity ahead of the August 9th general elections,” he said.
“This is a strategy by the National Police Service to protect the vulnerable in the society especially women during this electioneering period when they are exposed to threats and violence,” he said.
Kisavi who is also the National Police Service Elections Security Secretariat said adequate measures have been put in place to ensure security is maintained during and after the elections.
The efforts he said worked during the party primaries in March and April where 114 cases of violence were reported down from 1450 in 2017.
By Chris Mahandara
