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Cape Town - Armed response is set to be accessible at a press of a smartphone button in South Africa thanks to an app being piloted that works like ride-sharing service Uber.
Dubbed an "Uber for armed response", the StellieSafe programme is being piloted in Stellenbosch and is aimed at increasing the safety for residents and limiting crime.
The programme is the brainchild of Project Isizwe founder and former Mxit CEO Alan Knott-Craig jnr and Stellenbosch mayor, Conrad Sidego.
Like the popular ride-sharing application, StellieSafe installs on your smartphone and allows users who feel threatened or want to report a crime in progress to simply hail security personnel.
"Firstly, there's no money in it for anyone, and secondly, the credit has to go to the municipality of Stellenbosch, especially Mayor Conrad Sidego," Knott-Craig told Fin24.
Crime wave
He estimated that there are around 55 armed response cars in Stellenbosch versus only between five to 10 police vehicles. The platform will calculate available resources close to where a user has called for help.
"Why on Earth are you not finding your nearest car, not just your policeman who's already overworked? Take the Uber principle which is 'Click, I'm in trouble' and apply it to armed response," Knott-Craig argued.
"It's not a private sector thing; it works with Saps and the municipal police to respond to you. It basically reduces response times."
Armed response companies are signing up to StellieSafe. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
Stellenbosch has been rocked by a series of crimes recently. The kidnapping of 21-year-old student Ilze-Dene Oberholzer has prompted calls for the university to scrap evening exams.
University municipal officials have called for increased security patrols and the expansion of a CCTV camera network.
Knott-Craig rejected suggestions that the StellieSafe programme was intruding on the turf of the police.
"This is not about making anybody look bad or taking over the job. There are private companies that are trying to fight crime; there are people in government that are trying to fight crime, and there are people in municipalities that are trying to fight crime, and nobody's working together."
Accurate GPS data
A serial entrepreneur, Knott-Craig founded Cellfind's Look4Me a decade ago. The programme allowed subscribers to send an emergency SMS to five contacts for help with a push of a button.
However, despite some traction, accuracy was a problem because Look4Me relied on rough location data on feature phones, unlike the more accurate GPS data in modern smartphones.
Knott-Craig made no bones about the simplicity of the idea, but was bullish about the rollout, which is expected before Christmas.
"Anybody could what we're doing and anybody could have done it in the last five years, but because we've met a mayor who's willing to risk his political capital on something and get the system moving, it's happening," he said.
In the pilot phase, StellieSafe will only be available on Android and iPhone devices and Knott-Craig said that the programme could potentially roll out in any area because the technology was scalable.
Watch this video on how the StellieSafe programme will work.
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