The Tshwane Metro Police are piloting a mobile safety application that could eventually be replicated elsewhere to help South Africans fight crime.

Namola is a mobile application that helps South Africans alert the nearest Tshwane Metro Police responders with a click of a button will be piloted in Monument Park for five weeks.

When a user within Monument Park opens the Namola application and clicks the “Get Armed Response” button, an alert is sent to the dashboard-mounted smartphones in the nearest three available response vehicles. The first responder to indicate that they are available to assist is automatically directed to the requesting user using the GPS technology on the smartphone.

The requesting user is shown a photo of the responder and their name. They are also able to phone them, or the police, directly.

The pilot project will run in Monument Park until 15 March 2015, and may be expanded to include private armed response service providers.

The coverage area for the pilot is defined on the application, with all uncovered areas shaded in red on the in-app map. When the app is outside of the coverage area the “Get Armed Response” button becomes “Call Police”, which dials the 10111 national police call centre.

“The Namola app doesn’t create new infrastructure. It merely provides a new mechanism for the citizens of the City of Tshwane to alert nearby responders,” says Craig Rivett, partner at the developer, Ever Africa.

The Chief of the Tshwane Metro Police, Steven Ngobeni, comments: “This pilot is the first step in understanding how this new technology can be used to make all in the City of Tshwane and South Africa safer.”

The Namola app is available for download now on the Google Play store.