New Owl App Launched in Wandsworth
Get local crime alerts direct to your mobile phone
The OWL app gives you alerts from the police and the council
Information sent by the Metropolitan Police and Wandsworth Council via OWL (Online Watch Link) can now be received using a new mobile app.
Residents can download it for free and receive a notification as soon as a new message is sent by their local police officers or council community safety officers. Without any registration or login, the public can also view recent information on crimes, appeals and crime prevention advice sent to their local area or anywhere in their borough.
The OWL Messaging Service is already being used by police and council officers in Wandsworth and other London boroughs to send messages directly to registered subscribers by email. It has been used to alert residents of burglaries, vehicle crime, parcel thefts, missing person appeals, distribute invitations to local safer neighbourhood and ward panel meetings and to provide updates on police and council activities in the borough.
With the new app every resident and business can receive instant notifications directly to their mobile or tablet. Simply by downloading the OWL app and opening it, users will receive information based on their current postcode location. The postcode can be changed and multiple nearby zones of interest can be selected if desired. No registration is needed and the councils says personally identifiable data is not collected.
The most important messages regarding crimes and missing person appeals will arrive as instant notifications, while anything less urgent will land inside the app.
The app also allows you to share messages on social media.
Kamala McLean-James, Community Safety Communications Officer at Wandsworth Council said, “This app allows residents of Wandsworth to know what is going on in their area – with notifications from the police and council. We are committed to keeping Wandsworth a safe borough and especially as things will be getting busier post lockdown the community will benefit from the scam warnings, local incidents, crime prevention advice etc that the app provides.”
Cllr Jonathan Cook, Chairman of the Wandsworth Safer Neighbourhood Board, said, "With the new app Wandsworth’s residents can receive updates on the go. It’s especially important that our residents can feel informed at a time when restrictions will be eased, and the borough will become busier. The app gives guidance as to what to watch out for, allows residents to share intelligence and it also helps the police catch more offenders. I’d encourage residents to sign up to this app and help us keep Wandsworth the safest inner London borough. "
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July 2, 2021