NYPD unveils new Citizen-like app with crime-reporting button

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This new NYPD app is poised to push some buttons.

The Big Apple’s top cop on Wednesday unveiled a new Citizen-like app that will allow people to report crimes — and even pay a cop a compliment — with a tap of a screen.

Because what could go wrong?

“This is a new era in policing,” Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at the department’s annual State of the NYPD address.  “[The] technology will promote and enhance public safety and evolve neighborhood policing.”

The Step Forward app, which is currently in development, will allow users to “compliment” a police officer, chat about community safety concerns” and link to the NYPD’s social media pages.

With the app, New Yorkers will also be able to receive location-based safety alerts, as well as access crime statistics in their neighborhoods, get accident reports and find information on precinct meetings.

Sewell showcased the innovative law enforcement tech while announcing that the department will also soon begin hosting community town halls centering on crime data known as Compstat. 

At the meetings, neighbors will be able to make suggestions to officers about how to fix crime-plagued or dangerous areas.

“It’s very exciting,” she said. “We think that the communities that we serve have their own ideas about what’s happening [on the street],” she said. 

“This is their opportunity to tell us what they need from their police department. So they’re actually going to be able to talk to us on Zoom and talk to us about conditions, traffic conditions or dangerous areas, things that they would like us to address.”

It wasn’t immediately clear when the app would launch or what specific crimes users can report via smartphone.

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