HomeNewsBriefSmartphone App Aids Fall in Puerto Rico’s Violent Crime
BRIEF

Smartphone App Aids Fall in Puerto Rico’s Violent Crime

PUERTO RICO / 15 JAN 2015 BY CHARLES PARKINSON AND LOREN RIESENFELD EN

A smartphone app allowing anonymous tip-offs has been credited with contributing to a major reduction in Puerto Rico’s crime, as murders hit a near 15 year low in 2014, just three years after reaching a record high.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the island’s 681 homicides recorded last year marked a 40 percent drop from the 1,164 seen in 2011, with violent crime overall falling 17 percent over that period.

While a large-scale deployment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is cited as being key to the trend, the mobile app -- developed by a telecommunications entrepreneur whose son was killed during the 2011 crime wave -- and citizen activists operating under the slogan "Basta Ya PR" (meaning "Enough is enough, Puerto Rico") have also been significant factors.

"The cooperation of citizens has been key in helping us solve murders and seize weapons," Lt. Ricardo Haddock, sub director of criminal investigations in the north municipality of Carolina, told AP.

The app has been downloaded more than 40,000 times and produced more than 6,800 tips.

Meanwhile, the island’s police force has also embraced technology to improve its effectiveness, establishing a system that tracks reported gunfire in the greater San Juan area to assist in assigning daily patrol units.

Insight Crime Analysis

As the AP report states, the reduction in crime in Puerto Rico fits into a wider pattern of decline seen in the United States and the Caribbean; however, the use of technology to improve the police's performance and engagement with residents is worth noting.

This is not the first time such technology has been introduced in the region, with a mobile app in Brazil tracking crime to inform users of the safest route through major cities, while Mexico City and Venezuela have also introduced apps designed to speed up police response times.

Meanwhile, in recent years Mexico has seen citizen journalists take up the reins of crime reporting through blogs and social media -- often paying with their lives -- as media outlets have been bullied out of it by criminal groups. 

Although those smartphone apps hold considerable potential for reducing crime, they rely on the local population embracing them -- something many in Puerto Rico appear to have done. 

While the drop in murders and violent crime represents important gains for citizen security, it belies the island’s continued role as a hub for transnational crime and key transhipment point for drugs destined for the United States. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ARGENTINA / 1 FEB 2022

In 2021, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a marked increase in murders. Resurgent violence was to…

CARIBBEAN / 18 FEB 2022

Dominican authorities recently intercepted a cocaine-laden speedboat destined for Puerto Rico – the latest in a series of maritime seizures…

CARIBBEAN / 27 JUL 2022

Poorly equipped human smugglers have cost the lives of 17 Haitian migrants after their boat capsized near the Bahamas.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…