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Submitted by Mike Grenville on Tue, 02 Aug 2005 16:40 |
Two towns in England are invited to report examples of anti-social behaviour using their camera phone.
The Vandals Took The Handles
In Harlow, Essex, members of the public will be invited to snap photos of
graffiti and tagging using their mobile camera phones and send them via
MMS to 07739 888 558 with the word "Harlow" in the subject or message box.
Likewise in Ipswich, Suffolk, photos of graffiti, tagging, fly-tipping and vandalism can be sent via MMS to the same number but with "Ipswich" in the subject or message box.
The photos will arrive within a couple of minutes directly to the
anti-social behaviour coordinators desktop so they can quickly route it
to the right person for action. A text message will be sent back to the
phone so the sender knows their report has been received.
Not Vigilantes
Andy Solomon of the Suffolk Police said, "We don't want people to put
themselves in harm's way by photographing perpetrators as they commit
the crime, but we do want to know what is going on and pictures of the
aftermath of anti-social behaviour can also be used in evidence."
Most people carry their phones all the time and being able to send
photos on the spot will only take a couple of minutes, rather than a
trip to the local station or messing around with digital cameras and
email. The cost of sending MMS messages has been dropping rapidly and so
people will pay between 12.5p to about 25p to send in their report,
somewhat less than the cost of a first class stamp.
The service has been developed by image enabling technology company Youview, in conjunction with the Anti-Social Behaviour units in Local Councils and police:www.together.gov.uk The aim is to prove the service in a few areas then roll it out to the 388 Anti-Social Behaviour units across England and Wales. The same mobile number will be used with the name of the town as the keyword
Each area is able to focus on their own local issues such as graffiti or abandoned cars. By submitting evidence of heroin needles in alleyways, authorities can realise where the problems are and build a campaign to do something abouyt the problem.
Fiona Brownsell, CEO of Youview commented, "Working with the police and local authorities has really opened our eyes to the magnitude of the problem. We will be developing the platform to make it easy to feedback to the public via the internet so that people are encouraged to help as much as they can, without putting themselves at risk."
The service will be promoted locally with posters in libraries and community centres in the same way as crimestoppers.
"It took three months for a general number reporting phone number to be used by the public so we are expecting a slow uptake" said Brownsell. "Based on the amount of responses from the public in these inital areas" said Brownswell " we will be able to help units in other areas plan their resources."
Picture This
Although the act of sending a picture as an MMS reduces the quality of the image, Brownsell says that the pictures are of good enough quality to use; "If more detailed evidence is needed the unit can follow up a report with a visit and camera if necessary" she said.
Brownsell is confident that it won't just be young people but of all ages that will use the service saying that "when adults have a reason to use something, they will use it" she said.
"We know that input improves with feedback - both internally and to the public" said Brownswell. "The challenge is tying together submissions" said Brownswell who said that based on the experience sin the field improved feedback functionality will be addded in mid September.
With another area already live and another in the pipeline for a September launch, MMS looks set to play a key role in community involvement.
www.youview.co.uk
www.picmore.com
www.harlow.gov.uk
www.together.gov.uk
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