SARASOTA COUNTY – A Sarasota man has created an app to help bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community they serve.
Inspired by the national campaign, “See Something, Say Something,” Kevin Angell decided to help make reporting a crime, or submitting a tip, to law enforcement much easier through the “See it, Say it, Send it” app.
“The app allows you to send tips anonymously or self-identified anywhere in the country,” said Angell.
The app was created to assist in solving crimes, but also to empower communities and increase communication.
Through the app local law enforcement agencies can send messages about current or past suspicious activities.
“Instead of having to know several different agencies that you would be sending potential tip information to, the app because it knows your location it knows the closest agency to send that to,” said Angell. “And then it can be routed through the system to whichever agency is doing the investigation.”
Used in 21 states by nearly 250 law enforcement agencies – the app has helped find a murder suspect in Cocoa Beach, and assisted in solving several crimes in Martin County.
A key feature of the app is that it can have multimedia use when submitting tips.
“You can upload not only pictures and videos – you can also upload any other attachments that you have,” said Angell.
As for high-profile cases such as the death of Gabby Petito – the “See it, Say it, Send it” app can help investigators solve the crime.
“Leading it back to the Gabby Petito case and we know about several locations where they may have been seen or where they want to get information out,” said Angell. “They can actually set up a GeoFence which is like an invisible electric fence that your phone can see, and when you go into that area it would let you know what occurred there and then it would immediately allow you to send tips if you have information about that.”
The “See it, Say it, Send it” app is free to download and can be used on all Android and Apple devices.
