It's all gogo as police get the message out

Article posted on www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk
January 29, 2008

LEEDS-based marketing communications company, an agency called england, is helping police to keep the public in the know. Using gogo, a mobile messaging system devised by the company, police in London began distributing community safety information to mobile phones in December, 2007.

Metropolitan Police officers in Barnet can send the messages from police vans and the system has been used to warn the public about a spate of recent muggings and cash point robberies in the area. A second gogo system will be permanently based in Golders Green police station.

The agency says warning messages can be quickly and easily prepared and distributed, and the police envisage being able to use the system, if needed, to send out terror warnings or witness appeals. gogo is designed to communicate with a target audience at a relevant time and location. Information is delivered free via Bluetooth and, once downloaded, can remain on the user's mobile phone until deleted.

The system was developed by england's interactive team, working with a Scandinavian technology partner. Originally devised to deliver a mobile city guide for Leeds, this is the first time it has been used by a police force.

Information is delivered from small pods which can be easily located at poster sites, shops, entertainment venues, public spaces or wherever required.

Positive

The range of the pods is between half a metre and 30 metres and they can be programmed to operate individually or as a network.

Met police spokesman Chief Supt Stephen Kavanagh said: "We can locate a pod quickly in a relevant location and the public can receive and respond to messages at no cost to them. People have their mobile phones with them throughout the day and, once downloaded, the information is with them should they need it at any point. The reaction from the public has been incredibly positive, both in the measured uptake of messages and in the response to the messages delivered. We're confident this will prove an important tool in keeping the local community safe."

Tony Stanton, chief executive of an agency called england, added: "This system enables the police to communicate with as many people as possible in a cost-effective and unobtrusive way. "The system is designed so people can interact with it."