BANGOR, Maine — People in Bangor can now send information and anonymous tips about what they're seeing through a new app offered by the Bangor Police Department.
Jason McAmbley, the department's public information officer, said the Bangor PD app is interactive, allowing people to communicate with an officer in real time. He said the department will mostly use the app to send out public information and alerts.
"With this, once we get more people on board, certainly it'll be more effective," McAmbley said. "Say, hey—this road is closed because there's a tree down. Here's a picture of the closing road. You can take my word for it. Please don't go down that road."
He said pictures and videos can be submitted directly through the app, which helps if someone wants to inform Bangor police about a weather emergency like downed wires, trees, or flooding, or even if someone wants to quickly report an emergency situation.
McAmbley said because crime in Maine is fairly low, it's rare for people to fear retaliation after they make a police report. However, he said eyewitness evidence can be challenging to decipher because each witness may observe something different.
"The worst kind of evidence we have is eyewitness information," McAmbley said. "People get facts wrong."
McAmbley said and as time passes, a witness may remember things another way. He said he believes speaking to the person witnessing an emergency situation in real time will help reports be clearer, allowing people to send visuals of exactly what they're seeing.
"When I first started in this job, you'd get a physical description and they'd say, "They were really tall." Ok, so I hear really tall—I'm six foot four, " McAmbley said. "So, this person's got to be seven feet tall. And then you begin to talk to them, and they say they were really tall—about five foot eight. And there's just these differences, versus here's a photo. We're looking for this. Here's the car. Here's the person."
The Bangor PD app is available in Apple's App Store and in Google Play.