North Bay police to use smart phone app to get information to the public

Police in North Bay are partnering with a smart phone app developer, Public Emergency Alerting Services Inc., to launch what's called the ‘Alertable’ app in the city.

Police chief Scott Tod said it can be difficult to share real-time, accurate information quickly with the public when a crime occurs or when police need to alert the public about avoiding an area or to shelter in place.

"In the world we live in today, everyone wants to know everything now and once they know the information, they want to take action," said Tod on Tuesday morning, after the police service’s board meeting.

North Bay police started looking into the app, which was developed in Alberta by Public Emergency Alerting Services Inc. (PEASI), after they were called to a report of a student with a fake gun at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School in October.

During that situation, false rumours began spreading online while police were busy making an arrest and collecting evidence.

"The problem is that if we don't have someone sitting behind a keyboard, it's difficult for us to share information,” Tod told reporters.

“I think often of the after-hours issues and getting that information out after-hours when we don't have someone available at work to do it."

Police said they will continue to put alerts out on social media and through the news media. But the app would allow officers to quickly provide the public accurate information when it comes to important incidents.

“Chances are we will not be able to eliminate false and misleading information from being broadcast, but we can counter it with what the police can say is truthful, accurate, and relevant information,” Tod said.

Alerts are not restricted to crime reporting. Police can also use the software to warn the public of incoming rough weather, downed power lines or closed roads, for example.

"What Alertable provides us with is the ability to program 300 programmed messages that we can place into the system and then we have an officer or a member of the service select which appropriate message goes out,” said Tod.

Jacob Westfall, PEASI’s chief technology officer, said more than 1,000 municipalities across the country are currently registered.

"We're able to target notifications really quickly,” Westfall said.

“We also support being able to reach out via email, SMS, telephone calls, smart speaker devices like Google Home or Amazon Alexa, desktop computers, websites and social media.”

Once online, the North Bay police will be the first police force in Ontario to partner with PEASI to use the software. The app is already being used by police in western Canada.

"We work with police forces in Saskatchewan through the RCMP, police forces in Alberta through the RCMP as well as some of the larger police forces like Calgary and Edmonton," Westfall said.

He said the response from those police forces has been positive.

The partnership will begin in April. The app is free to download on iPhone, Android or Google Phone.