Was just now reading a news report (currently denied by officials) that NYC police are aware of a "credible threat" for a holiday season terrorist attack. In the article, there was mention of a new New York State Police phone app to report "suspicious" activity. I then Googled whether Washington, D.C. (where I live) has such a government app and sure enough they do have a new one, which I have just downloaded:

http://hsema.dc.gov/page/homeland-security-and-emergency-management-agency-mobile-app

Here's an article about New York's new app:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/See...-353058031.html

They stress that these are not replacements for 9-1-1. Reminds me of a bike ride with a friend several years ago along the Potomac River near the Tidal Basin (Jefferson Memorial-Haines Point). We were riding on a path that goes underneath the 14th Street Bridge (which carries Interstate 395 into downtown) and saw a couple of men using a very fancy video camera to film underneath the bridge looking up at the structure. Dare I say that they looked like some of the mug shots of the perpetrators of the 9/11/01 attacks.... My friend and I rode past them and looked at one another and said we had to find a police officer. She called 9-1-1 and I rode further and flagged down a Park Police officer who tore off after them in his cruiser.

I did not have a smart phone then and no camera to take their photos. Today I would take a phone pic and certainly would submit the photos and info via this new DC app. So I think this is a good system, though there surely will be reports that don't pan out (as there have been without the apps).

The next most notable feature to me, at this point, is the DC evacuation routes map. I'm in a part of the city where on most days I'm back and forth across designated evac routes which are supposed to control whether you go north or south out of the city.




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I should check if we have something local (SFBA) as well. So far I've been using a similar type app in the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit - a subway like thing here) to report their police/maintenance dispatch about issues in the cars and at the stations. Convenient, when you don't have time to make a call on the go and explain - just a couple of images, select the station from the list, type in car number, and add a short note - more than enough.

Find out if your local 911 center supports text-to-911, and if it doesn't find out why. Texting pictures to 911 may help shorten a response cycle.