Xàbia Alerta: the new APP that connects the citizen with the Local Police

Tuesday 29th March 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: press release – Ajuntament de Xàbia

The Policía Local de Xàbia has activated a new channel to communicate with the citizen through smartphone technology with the intention of reducing the response time and crossing language barriers in a town as diverse as Xàbia.

Police chief José Antonio Monfort explained that Xàbia Alerta is a specific security application that works bidirectionally and is a further step for the municipality’s police force to take in expanding communication routes with the general public.

The APP, called XàbiAlerta and developed by Goil, is easy to use. After downloading it for free, you simply have to create a profile which will be validated by the police to prevent its misuse. Basic data will be provided such as full name, identification number, address and telephone number that will be the identification data of each user.

Once registered, the screen will show you the six notification type icons to connect with the police (it will be activated simply by sliding the chosen icon) and your notification will be visible just a second later on the checkpoint control computer, which will start manage the incidence, to expand the information with the telephone that you have registered and to send a patrol to respond. In addition to its simplicity, it avoids waiting if the switchboard is busy and, if geolocation is active, having to explain the location of the incident.

It also offers the option of informing the police of incidents on public roads 24 hours a day (lighting faults, faulty signage or public furniture or other situations that may affect safety in public spaces). And the police themselves can launch and send security, traffic or emergency notices directly to people or companies that have signed up.

The application will only work when the mobile is within the municipal area (except for the button to contact 112, which will always be available) and, in compliance with all data protection guarantees, it does not allow the police to know the user’s location except when it sends a notice.

The APP has other functionalities at an internal level (information among the staff) and enables easy data analysis or mapping of incidents so that the police can plan preventive or dissuasive actions.

The Councilor for Citizen Security, Juan Ortolá, has congratulated the local police force for the initiative and insisted that it works to the maximum to improve the service to citizens, for which he hopes that the citizens will give a great reception to this application , a pioneer in the Comunidad Valenciana and which can have a significant impact on safety.

Mayor José Chulvi has also talked about the usefulness of this APP – which will be installed in the language in which each person has their mobile configured – to prevent the language barrier from making it difficult to notify an emergency. The mayor added that informative campaigns will be carried out with groups and associations to explain this application to them and thus facilitate its implementation since it can be very important not only for their safety but also to send them preventive messages about emergencies or scams, among others.