On Nov. 7, the City of Edinburg Police Department launched a new software called Citizen Connect, which will allow citizens to be informed about crimes and offenses happening around them.
Citizen Connect will be constantly updating, every 15 minutes, to give users the latest on police activity.
Edinburg Police Chief Jaime Ayala said that he heard about similar softwares being used in other agencies across the country, where citizens can look around their area and see what type of crime is happening.
“Once I heard about it [Citizen Connect], I was extremely excited about it because this is exactly what we need not only for our community to be able to access it, but for our officers to have information that they plot on a map and they can see it so they can know what’s happening in the area or town they’re working on this particular day,” Ayala said.
Ayala said he has not seen much of a difference in the short time that Citizen Connect has been in use but he does expect to see the software’s full potential in the coming months.
“I do expect in the weeks and months to come that we’re able to identify areas of town, just by looking at the maps, where we need to increase patrols, where we need to increase visibility, where we need to increase community engagement and crime prevention measures,” Ayala said.
Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Garcia said that this software will bring more data to the Police Department so they can better understand where more policing is needed.
“Right now, [we are] in the process [of hiring] eight more officers. It just helps gives data to real time, to see where we need to have more impact and we need to use some of our towers that we have in certain areas that seem to be going up in crime. It’s just all about policing in our community and bringing safety,” Garcia said.
He said that even though the Citizen Connect app will be a big improvement in public safety, he still encourages citizens to voice their concerns in order to make further improvements.
“We’re here to serve the community, it’s like I tell everybody, I’m a public servant and we’re here to serve all our area. It doesn’t matter what side of town you live in. Unfortunately, we don’t have the opportunity to be all over the city so we always invite citizens, if you see something let us know and that’s the only way we can fix and go forward,” Garcia said.
To learn more about the Citizen Connect software you can visit the City of Edinburg Website.
