A new smart phone app makes it easy and confidential for citizens to report environmental crime.
Developed in collaboration with the Waterkeeper Alliance, the NYS Crime Stopper app gives the average citizen a tool to safely fight crime wherever they go. The app locates and gives directions to any police department, and can anonymously send a phone tip, e-mail tip or a photo tip - while never giving up the sender’s identity or phone number.
“Crime Stoppers is recognizing that environmental crime is real crime with real victims,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance.
“When a little girl is brain dead from lead or mercury exposure, it’s the equivalent of child abuse for assault and battery. When a publicly owned waterway or fishery is contaminated, it’s theft. The Crime Stopper app will help make environmental crime a new priority for law enforcers across the country.”
“Whether it’s visible smoke from a power plant stack or illegal discharges into a waterway, citizens can take a picture on their smartphone and dispatch it instantly to an appropriate law and environmental enforcement agency and to Waterkeeper Alliance,” said Kennedy.
The NYS Crime Stopper app is available for free download from the Apple App store for iPhone, at Google Play for Android phones and at Blackberry App World. The app can also be downloaded at www.nyscrimestoppers.org.