Police Control/ Our Patrol - monitoring the police patrols

We’ll start with the controversial ones. Two Android apps, Police Control (Policijska kontrola) from Slovenia, and Our Patrol (Naša patrola) from Serbia, are designed to monitor the whereabouts of road police and to map the police checkpoints.

 

These two, of course, can’t be labeled as activist applications, even though one of the consequences of their use practically makes police work more transparent. The intended purpose of the apps is to help reckless drivers avoid getting speeding tickets. But, even more troublingly, they could also be used by any other outlaw seeking to avoid an encounter with the police patrol. Furthermore, this could be an important resource for violent riots organizers who, in many cases, need the information on police movement.

 

However, there may be a couple of socially acceptable and morally justifiable perspectives that could absolve us of guilt for using these applications. If any protesters with a just cause would face oppression from the state, they could certainly claim using these apps in good faith. Same goes for transparency researchers and activists whose mission is keeping all public authorities open to citizens’ oversight.

 

The apps use crowdsourcing to geotag the police patrol on Google Maps. Users can report the position of the police unit with just one click, as well as to confirm or dispute the location of the police patrols submitted by other users. Based on input and the location of its users, the app calculates credibility of each submission and alerts the users if they’re approaching the police checkpoint.

 

Kontrolor - monitoring the public spending

The Android mobile app Kontrolor is designed to help citizens of Serbia determine the exact amount of total taxes and benefits taken by the state for each purchase they make. Of course, this doesn’t include the income-related taxes and benefits that are deducted directly from citizens’ salaries, fees, and other sources of income.

 

The app users just need to provide input for each individual purchase they make, and app will calculate a total cost paid to the state. The app is well integrated with Twitter and Facebook, allowing its users to share their comments on social networks and spread the word about the need for fiscal responsibility.

 

Network for Political Accountability (MPO) launched this app as part of a wider campaign advocating for the Serbian Government to cut the public spending. The campaign calls for changing the Government policies, and for installing a huge display on the Ministry of Finance headquarters with a live count of the Serbia’s public debt. The issue of public spending is one of the biggest problems Serbia faces in the midst of long economic crisis, as the increasing public debt exceeds legal limitation of 45% of the country’s GDP. MPO is using social media and all available formats to reach out to citizens with analysis, information, and calls to action.

 

My Councilor - engaging with local councilors

My Councilor (Moj odbornik) is a web portal and an Android mobile app which enables direct two-way communication between citizens and their elected representatives in local town and municipal parliaments.

 

The platform, launched by Proaktiv, enables citizens to rate their councilors, send them direct emails, and in case of some municipalities it even provides direct phone numbers of elected representatives. Councilors, citizens, and VIP’s have an opportunity to write their own blog posts at the web platform, discuss the most prominent and common problems, as well as share good practices of local institutions. The app also provides some interesting statistics comprised of information on councilors’ gender, age, education, and responsiveness to the citizens requests.

 

At first, gathering the necessary information didn’t go as smoothly as expected because there was not enough data on councilors available online. Proaktiv had to be persuading the municipal authorities to establish cooperation with them, and in some cases they even had to appeal to the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Private Data Protection in order to obtain access to the relevant data. Some councilors didn’t even have an email address, so they were offered help in opening their very first email account. The app currently covers 20 municipalities and towns in Serbia with 1,246 local councilors in its database, with a plan to expand and include all municipal parliaments.