SafeTy as a New Form of Social Activation in the Area of Public Safety

Abstract

The aim of this article is to identify the SafeTy programme and application as a tool to enable information sharing and mutual alerting of local communities about public safety threats. Developed at the Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk, the SafeTy mobile application provides opportunities for residents to communicate and cooperate in the area of safety. It is thus intended to increase the activation of the local community and raise the safety culture of residents. It is also a tool for diagnosing the level of public safety. The article also addresses the issue of geographical spatial analysis of crime based on criminological theories and its potential use in the application. It was assumed that the access to the SafeTy mobile application, which enables mutual threat warnings, influences the activation of local communities contributing to their sense of security and to the safety culture of residents. The study was conducted by means of a critical analysis of the literature and a diagnostic survey, using survey questionnaires (interview and questionnaire). Preliminary results of the research indicate that the SafeTy tool responds to the needs of local communities in terms of information about local threats, while also mobilising residents to identify antisocial behaviour, thus creating opportunities to counter these phenomena. Undoubtedly, local communities are looking for spaces to communicate about threats through, among other things, “groups” on social networks. This need is met by the SafeTy application, which is free of information about users’ private lives or advertising material, as it is dedicated to issues that shape public safety and thus refers to the concept – “neighbourhood watch”.