New York – NYPD Uses Phone Apps To Ask Residents How They’re Doing

New York – The New York Police Department is using phone apps to ask residents how they’re doing.

The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/2qNQx4r ) says it’s an offshoot of the department’s CompStat facts-and-figures system.

Commissioner James P. O’Neill is calling the tool a “sentiment meter.”

The system uses location technology to send out questions along three themes: Do you feel safe in your neighborhood? Do you trust the police? Are you confident in the police department?

A private firm bundles the anonymous answers.

Precinct commanders can then change block-by-block deployments or take other measures to address residents’ concerns.

The blasts are sent to devices that are already open to advertisers.

Some policing watchdogs and civil libertarians say they’ll be watching to see that the tool is not abused.