[Scan-DC] mixed feelings about law-enforcement phone apps

[Alan Henney]

Detroit Free Press (Michigan)

October 26, 2009 Monday

Cops have mixed feelings about law-enforcement phone apps

BYLINE: AMBER HUNT 

SECTION: METRO; Pg. 6A

LENGTH: 1199 words

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the metro Detroit map highlighting supposed speed traps on Trapster.com was marked with dozens of little red and yellow dots.

One was at Moross and Harper in Harper Woods; another was a few blocks away at Harper and Littlestone. Both dots served as warnings: There's a cop in hiding, so slow down or you might get a speeding ticket.

They weren't exactly accurate, said Harper Woods Police Chief Randolph Skotarczyk, who said officers don't set up shop at particular intersections looking for speeders. Still, he doesn't mind the supposed hot spots being sent to Trapster users to warn drivers to slow down.

What he does mind, however, is that the smartphone application that goes along with Trapster likely will be used by motorists while driving, thus creating a potential safety hazard. 

Trapster is just one of a growing number of smartphone applications that has a law-enforcement bent.

For example, there's Police Scanner, which allows average folk to listen in on emergency dispatch traffic; Cannabis, which directs users to places to buy legal marijuana; Your Rights, which outlines what law enforcement can and can't do when interviewing suspects, and Offender Locator, which locates sex offenders throughout the country.

In all, there are several hundred such law enforcement applications.

"Real-time information sharing is unavoidable," said Jonathan Zdziarski, an iPhone forensics and application developer. "It's just a matter of how the consumer base chooses to use it."

For people who haven't already hopped on the smartphone bandwagon, a quick explainer: Phones such as the BlackBerry and iPhone have tens of thousands of downloadable programs -- known as applications or apps -- available for people who want to play games, make to-do lists, edit pictures, even track their parking spaces in case they get lost heading back to their cars.

BlackBerry cracked the 50-million mark earlier this year, according to its manufacturer, Research in Motion. Apple, which makes the iPhone, announced last month that it also has sold more than 50 million iPhones and iPod touches, and iPhone users have downloaded more than 2 billion apps.

Some of the programs are free. Others cost a few bucks -- usually topping out in the $4.99 range. All compete with each other for a spot on the owner's most-used list.

"We have formidable competition from Super Monkey Ball," said Pete Tenereillo, developer of Trapster, referring to a game in which players guide a monkey trapped in a ball through various obstacles.

About 2.5 million people use Trapster on iPhones, BlackBerries and the Google-developed Android platform, Tenereillo said. Its content is user-generated, meaning that people log in and input speed trap information that is then disseminated to subscribers.

"What we're doing is crowd-sourcing," Tenereillo said, "or pulling together information from a huge audience of people who work together in real time."

Detroit Police Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said the influx of such apps is no different than the proliferation of radars and speed guns.

"Every time technology makes an improvement, law enforcement gets a step ahead, and then people catch up," Godbee said. "That's just a natural give-and-take with technology."

Tapping into police scanners

Some of the apps were designed specifically for law-enforcement agents and their families, but then found an audience with crime buffs as well, said David Kyle, product manager at Juicy Development in Orem, Utah, who helped create Police Scanner.

The app streams the scanner activity of about 2,000 law-enforcement agencies. Among its competition is the newly released Police Radio. Both applications stream broadcasts from agencies nationwide. Among those available in southeast Michigan: Detroit police and fire, Warren police and fire, Oakland County Sheriff's Office and Ferndale police.

Godbee said such apps could be misused by astute criminals, but the department's most sensitive communications, such as those involving undercover officers, are encrypted.

"I think for your legitimate block clubs and good neighbors who are interested in maintaining security -- and that's the majority of our citizens -- it's a benefit to know what's going on from a crime-reporting standpoint."

Missing-child sightings

Zdziarski, the Amber Alert developer, said apps like his will soon save lives.

People with that free app can instantly learn about missing children and click an icon to report sightings through their phones. Because the phones have Global Positioning System (GPS) technology already embedded, police are notified about the precise location of the sighting and can head that way to search.

"We're harnessing the ability to receive a large number of reports with GPS coordinates and provide a lot of intelligence to help locate missing children," Zdziarski said. "Police can see almost instantaneously where they get a small cluster of reports."

There hasn't been a known case of the application leading police to a missing child, but Zdziarski is hopeful.

Law enforcement officials say they hope that people will use this new technology intelligently.

"Those are great uses, unless you're set up to get alerts every three seconds and it's distracting you from doing other things, like driving," Skotarczyk said.

"There's so much information out there, but we have to know how to filter it and when to pay attention."

Contact AMBER HUNT: 313-223-4526 or alhunt at freepress.com

Cop connections on your phone

There are hundreds of smartphone apps with a law-enforcement connection. Here's a small sampling of some free and pay-for apps available through iTunes' app store. Descriptions are provided from the developers' Web sites and the app store.

Trapster (free): When you spot a speed trap, you can report it by pressing a button on your phone or calling a toll-free number. Other users' phones alert them as they approach the trap.

Offender Locator ($1.99): Search for sex offenders either by using your phone's GPS or by manually entering an address. The app searches its database and provides names, pictures, ages, heights, weights and crime specifics for nearby offenders.

Police Scanner ($2.99): Its goal is to replace bulky handheld scanners by consolidating the data streams from about 2,000 police and fire agencies. New streams are added daily.

CIS Fingerprint Scanner & Spy Toolkit (99 cents): OK, this one's a hoax, but for forensics fanatics who want to pull one over on friends, this app features a faux fingerprint scanner, a lie detector and a metal detector.

FBI Most Wanted ($1.99): This app claims to deliver the FBI's fugitive feeds, including the top 10 fugitives and most-wanted terrorists. It also connects to the FBI's Twitter feed, Internet Crime Complaint Center and YouTube feed.

Cannabis Paid ($1.99): Supposedly created by a legal cannabis patient, this app directs people to places that sell medical marijuana, where allowed by law. In areas where it isn't legal, it provides activist information.

Police Logger (free): The idea is to make life easier on law enforcement by allowing officers to click icons tracking the time they respond to calls, arrive on the scene and wrap up.

Amber Hunt