By Sheldon Spackman

privacy protected

App allows users to help police catch criminals while staying anonymous

Jun 25, 2020 | 1:10 PM

Central Albertans eager to help police catch criminals are making use of a handheld tool at their disposal.

A free app called Lightcatch allows users to report trouble and alert other app users nearby. That trouble could be a crime, an accident, something suspicious, or a potential threat to your safety.

The Alberta-based app, which serves all of Canada, allows users to anonymously send a photo, a text, or even call something in. A suspect’s location is then constantly updated on the map, safely and legally according to developers, allowing everyone to share what they know and see.

Lightcatch Founder and CEO Darren Boyer says the app was launched last summer and now has roughly 16,000 users, including about 1,000 in Red Deer and 2,000-3,000 in the surrounding area.

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“We’ve had the best response in central B.C., central Alberta, Grande Prairie – Peace River, and so we focused on those areas,” he explains. “It’s the leading crowdsource solution that is both safe for the public to use and lawful and respectful for any activity being posted on there. Some of the key differences are, all input is given a location that you can see on the map so people getting that update can quickly identify, is this something I can make a difference towards?”

If not, Boyer says you can silence that alert and move on.

“If you can make a difference, take five minutes a week and do that,” he suggests. “We’re not trying to get people to engage with it for hours and sell advertisements. We really want people to make a difference in five minutes a week or less.”

Over the past two months, Boyer says they’ve been seeing around one recovered stolen vehicle per week thanks to the app.

“We noticed 44 per cent of vehicles or stolen items that were posted in under an hour had a successful outcome in May,” he points out. “Only 19 per cent of items posted over 12 hours old saw a successful outcome in May. So definitely the people that are using it, as soon as an incident occurs, are getting a much more significant impact.”

Boyer says they have communications with law enforcement agencies across Alberta and B.C. almost daily.

“The community is empowered to support law enforcement lawfully and safely with Lightcatch,” says Boyer. “Anyone seen using Lightcatch in an unsafe manner can be posted on the app by the community itself. The operations team is also there 24/7 to remove unsafe actions, threats, or interference posted on the app as much as possible.

“So while I agree this will always be a concern that the public could hinder the police, the above precautions should help keep this service the leading solution to support the police,” adds Boyer.

Lightcatch’s track record also speaks a lot to that regard, Boyer suggests. In 50-60 stolen vehicle recoveries he says there has not been one complaint from a police department that the Lightcatch community was a hindrance.

“Everyone’s identity is protected,” he remarks. “Compared to social media where you’re posting information and you really are at-risk of that information – your personal identity – getting into the wrong hands, this is completely anonymous.”

Boyer says Lightcatch is also a tool protected from slander and false accusations.

“We have artificial intelligence running on our platform where every face that gets posted to it on video or image is automatically blurred,” he explains. “The operations team, they supervise the input 24/7, so if they can see there’s clear proof of a crime, they will un-blur that footage. So we are minimizing false accusations and erroneous posts.”