Stay Connected to Transit Police with the new OnDuty Mobile App
Stay Connected to Transit Police with the new OnDuty Mobile App
Metro Vancouver Transit Police have released OnDuty, a new mobile app that will connect you with all Transit Police’s channels in the palm of your hand.
If you see something, while riding transit, say something! Through the app’s built-in text messaging function, users will be able to discreetly report non-emergency issues to Transit Police dispatch. There is no need to draw attention to yourself and you don’t have to wait to report crime on transit.
The OnDuty app’s Crime Maps feature will allow you to view crime hotspots along the transit system. Transit Police will be updating crime maps section weekly, so you can have a better, up-to-date understanding of where and when crime occurs.
Stay connected to the Transit Police’s Twitter and Facebook pages and real-time alerts will keep you informed about public safety concerns, missing persons or major service disruptions. You will also be able to access TransLink’s Next Bus and Trip Planner features directly from the app!
The OnDuty app, for iOS and Android devices, is free and is now available in the App Store and Google Play.
*This app is for non-emergency reporting only. For emergencies, please call 911.
Author: Allen Tung
OK on my Blackberry Q10, I got the app working with the Snap emulator. Tip… do a search for “gomobilepd” to find the App.
Going through the main menu, the only feature that does not work is the Crime Map. It abends on the Q10 when it tries the display the map. The Crime List works, I would like to see some of that white space show the time of the incident.
Only complaint is the warning message “Google Play services, which some of your applications rely on, is not supported by your device. Please contact the manufacturer for assistance”. Can we get rid of this message?
For those who want to run Android applications on their Blackberries with the Snap emulator. Have a link at this website link…
http://crackberry.com/how-use-snap-blackberry-1021-install-android-apk-files
On my 4S, the iPhone app locks up entirely when I tap on “Crime Maps”. (Feels as though it’s doing synchronous networking, a design no-no.) Not a great first impression.
A new patch was released on Friday. However, the google map and notification message problem remains. Please have this fixed.
Hi ;-) and Ben Kennedy! Thanks for letting us know. We’ve passed this along to the developers and they’re working towards a fix.
There’s really nothing of value in this app. All the “features” are just links to existing web-pages. Create a new phone contact for Transit Police w/ the 877777 number and save yourself the bandwidth.
I deleted the app a couple of days ago. As Mike described, it offers little of value. It’s a brochure-ware app, quite apparently a white-label by some outfit called MobilePD who makes… you guessed it… branded police-related apps.
The user interface was not designed for a regular person. Just tap the “crime maps” button and look at the results—a bunch of tabular abbreviated information that is of no useful value. (Yes, I did finally muster the patience for it to load!)
Exactly Ben. I bet the Transit Police wanted an “app” because it’s trendy, then wasted thousands of dollars for some company to hack this together while putting no thought into what features customers would actually find useful.