NYC partners with Citizen app to give users real-time local alerts

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a new partnership with the Citizen app to deliver real-time public safety alerts directly to users’ phones based on their exact location. 

This means New Yorkers will now receive updates about emergencies, crimes, and weather events happening in their specific neighborhood, ZIP code, or borough.

Citizen is a crime-tracking app that lets people report safety incidents, share videos, and even livestream events as they happen. 

With this new initiative, public safety agencies like the NYPD, FDNY, and Emergency Management will also gain access to a special portal where they can review footage and information submitted by users.

 The goal is to improve response times and keep the public informed more quickly and accurately. (Via: The Verge)

This new system is powered through Citizen’s verified city partnership with Axon, the company behind Tasers, which recently acquired a “real-time crime center” platform called Fusus. 

Axon has also partnered with Ring, the home security camera company, allowing police to request footage from people’s cameras during investigations. 

Now, with Citizen added into the mix, law enforcement can also view public videos shared through the app to help respond to incidents faster.

Citizen users who don’t want their videos to be shared can opt out in the app’s settings. 

However, any video posted on the platform is still visible to the public and can be downloaded.

While the idea is to improve safety and communication, the app has had a controversial past. 

Citizen originally launched in 2016 as “Vigilante” but was removed from app stores for promoting community policing that bordered on mob justice. 

It later rebranded as Citizen but has still faced criticism for fueling fear and anxiety. 

In one major misstep in 2021, the company’s CEO encouraged users to hunt down the wrong suspect in a wildfire investigation, sparking outrage.

Despite its rocky history, the new partnership shows NYC is betting on technology and real-time data to help improve public safety, while still raising concerns about privacy, surveillance, and misuse of user-generated content.

Do you think NYC’s partnership with the Citizen app will improve public safety through better information sharing? Or does it create concerning surveillance and vigilante justice risks? Tell us below in the comments, or reach us via our Twitter or Facebook.