NYP mobile shortlisted for national digital awards

North Yorkshire Police has been shortlisted for three awards at this year’s UK Public Sector Digital Awards for its NYP mobile smartphone app.

The awards are designed to recognise excellence in public sector ICT delivery and North Yorkshire Police is a finalist in three categories: Best example of digital transformation; Best example of ICT-enabled innovation and enterprise; and Best example of citizen engagement.

This app gives people in York and North Yorkshire the chance to see detailed crime data, witness appeals, safety advice and police team information for their neighbourhood, all via their mobile phone.

Devised by North Yorkshire Police`s web officer, Tom Stirling, the app is designed to help forge greater links with the community by making information about the force easily available and allowing people to contact the police at the push of a button.

He said that by installing the free NYP mobile app, members of the public will have quick and convenient access to a wide range of information from North Yorkshire Police in the palm of their hand.

“As well as accessing crime-prevention advice and the latest witness appeals, they can even use the app to ‘follow’ their local officer on Twitter. In addition, phones equipped with sat nav technology can be used to find their local police station.”

The force used freely-available, open source tools to create the app entirely in-house, so it has cost nothing to develop and is free to install and use. NYP mobile allows the public to:

•Get the latest news and ‘caught on camera’ CCTV appeals;

•Receive live weather alerts and flood warnings;

•Access the national street level crime maps system;

•Dial the force non-emergency number at the touch of a button;

•View a directory of all North Yorkshire Police police stations, with the ability to add them to the phone’s sat nav;

•Read the latest information from each safer neighbourhood command;

•Find lists of all officers latest tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube videos; and

•Learn about vital crime prevention advice.

The awards ceremony, attended by ministers, top civil servants and technology experts from the public and private sectors, will be held on Thursday, January 19, at the London Guildhall.