One of the key parts of our mobile application is the ability to send Push Notifications. Push notifications go directly to a user's phone as an alert. Prior to today, we could only send a 128 character long message.
We use push notifications to "Notify the Public!" Some examples where we have used them is crashes where we have told the public of road closures and asked them to avoid the area. We have also used them to send you to an area in the application such as an event that was posted.
Push notifications work so well that I looked at perfecting how we use them. In the early stages, we would have to make notifications in Facebook, Twittter and our Mobile App. This meant typing the same message in three different programs. This might seem like no big deal to the receiver however during critical incidents, time is a luxury. I enhanced the code in the mobile app so we only have to send one message and it automatically gets posted to Facebook and Twitter. This not only saves us time but get the message out quicker.
The next area I looked at was adding content to the message. The question I posed was how do we get out a picture of a Missing Child Posted Quickly. To satisfy this requirement, I added the ability for us the hyperlink content. We can create a Missing or Wanted Poster and link it to the message so you are automatically taken to the content. The content can be linked to a webpage such as this or a tab button within the application such as an event. We can also use linked notifications to Breaking News, Weather Alerts etc. This code implimented in the mobile app allows us to seamlessly communicate with the user and get the information we want you to have quickly.
Lastly I implimented the ability for us to send messages based on the location of the user. I did this by respecting the privacy of the user. We still cannot and will not track the identity and location of the user. All we can see is an annonomous user is in a particular location. This geo-coded system allows us to narrow our messages to effected areas. For instance if I wanted to send a message to all users in a particular neighborhood, the mobile app allows us to do that.
The mobile app also allows users to opt out of notifications. This prevents us from bothering those persons who do not want to receive them.
The mobile app user does not need to do anything to receive the added features. This will be automatic on the user's end. If you do not have the mobile app, you can search both the Android Store and Apple App Store by police department name.
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