After several months in development, the Union County Sheriff's Office app is now available for iPhone and Android users.
The app's features include the county jail roster, the state sex offender registry, a list of active warrants deputies will pursue, several options for getting in touch with the Sheriff's office -- including ways to file complaints, submit tips and commend deputies -- and information about other criminal justice resources, like the phone number for the county prosecutor's office.
"It's got, I think, a couple more things than our website, but we're going to keep both of them up and running," Sheriff Ricky Roberts said.
The UCSO began work to develop the app in May, and it rolled out earlier this month. Roberts said his office faced some technical issues while building the app, which took input from the UCSO IT team, a professional app development company and local administrator Capt. Jeff Stinson. He said he expects the app to continue evolving as the community learns more about it.
"Our administrator with the Sheriff's Office is Capt. Jeff Stinson and he's done a remarkable job at getting this thing off, but we also had to get our IT people, our app people, and we went back and forth all these months. We rolled it out on a trial basis a couple weeks ago to see if there were any glitches we needed to change," he said. "This is going to be an evolving thing. What you see is not what you're going to get. ... This is not the end product here."
The app also allows users to opt-in to notifications. Roberts said those could range from alerts about car accidents and road closures to BOLOs (be on the lookout) or Amber alerts.
"The main thing that I like about it, this app -- it's going to be real time when something happens. Say we have a major accident, or, God forbid, we have a kid that's missing -- we can shoot out the info that will help us," Roberts said. "We'll have that many more eyes looking for the person, a suspect vehicle -- whatever can help us."
The sheriff said his office pushed out an alert last week when Highway 160 reopened after bridge repairs.
"I know a couple months back, I was travelling on the back roads to El Dorado. I come up to (North West Avenue) and it was backed up; come to find out, they had a major wreck at the intersection. It would've been nice if we could've said 'hey, there's a major wreck at 19th and North West, avoid if possible,'" Robert said. "For those that want to stay up to date, I think it's going to be more helpful than a hindrance."
He said that by being able to send out notifications about suspects the UCSO is looking for, local residents can be proactive in protecting themselves from crime.
"Let's just take, for instance: we get a house that's been burglarized, and we get a suspect vehicle. We can go on here and say we're looking for X vehicle. Most of the time we only get the color, maybe the make, sometimes we might get the license (plate) number. But we can send a notification out that says 'we just a burglary at 123 Johnson Street (for example), the suspect vehicle is this' and those people that live in the area, if they see the suspect vehicle, they can call it in ... and help us to stop some of this crime," Roberts said.
Roberts noted that there are a still few issues with the app being worked out. For example, on the active warrants page, some warrants are listed as being filed in 1969. He also said it might take a day or two for warrants to be taken off the list after they've been served. The inmate roster, however, is usually updated immediately.
"It may take a couple days for that warrant to cycle off, so they don't need to be alarmed about that," he said. "Our inmates, the roster, it's up to date. It's pretty well on time. It's not long after they're arrested that it shows on our inmate roster. ... That's pretty much going to be real time."
He said he's open to suggestions from the community about ways the app can be improved, as well.
"If we can make it better, we want to know that as well -- what can we do to make this app better inform the people that we serve so that we can do our jobs better," he said. "I think we're the only police department or sheriff's department in south Arkansas that has this app."
The app can be found in the App Store or Google Play Store by searching "Union County Sheriff AR." It is free.
"It's just another tool in our tool box," Roberts said. "We hope that the community will embrace it and help us fight crime, and hopefully it will be helpful to them. It's something that I think is going to be a good thing."