New app aims to crowdsource eye witness accounts

Last year the FBI teamed up with the crime drama White Collar to try and crowdsource insights into crimes.  The site was no doubt hoping to tap into the inner sleuth in us that shows like White Collar help to germinate.  The network featured photos of stolen art, together with information about the case.  The public was then invited to submit leads to try and help solve the case.

A new online and mobile app is taking a slightly different route, but is nonetheless hoping to involve the crowd to help with emergency work.  The app, called LEEDIR, works around emergencies to allow people to send in pictures and videos from their phones to emergency investigators.

The developers hope that the system will give authorities a means of securing tips and insights from the public during a crisis.  With the database itself being housed in the cloud, it will also mean that the data will be accessible without causing crashes to the system.

The project represents a growth in attempts by emergency services to tap into the crowd.  Here are five more crowdsourced projects in the field.

1. BlueServo– A site that asks people to help protect US borders in Texas.
2. GetYourCarBack– This is a Seattle based Twitter service that invites people to help locate stolen cars.
3. Hatari– Hatari is a Kenyan site that asks users to report criminal activity and corruption.
4. HarassMap– HarassMap is an Egyptian service that asks people, usually women, to report instances of harassment.
5. SpotCrime– SpotCrime relies on users submitting instances of criminal activity along with their location.  They use this to build a crime map.