New emergency app being developed in Israel to help tackle kidnapping

In light of recent kidnapping, smart-phone technology reportedly being engineered to enable emergency distress button to alert authorities, without having to place call.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

A new smartphone app to help people from getting kidnapped is currently being developed in Israel, Channel 2 reported Monday.

smartphone

Smartphone. – Photo: REUTERS

As Israeli police and security forces search for three missing Israeli teenagers, believed to be kidnapped in the West Bank – the Shomron Regional Council is working on an app that will enable people in danger to report their location to authorities, without actually picking up the phone and placing a call.

The council has reportedly hired a company to upgrade a current app already in circulation so that rather than having to contact police and report a location during an emergency,  one can transmit your location with a simple push of a button.

The app works by alerting authorities to one’s specific location, by triggering the phone’s GPS system, if a person is in danger. The app transmits an instant SMS as well as a specific location and can continue to send signals – without the person needing to pick up the phone and call.

 

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Pillar-of-Defense/New-emergency-app-to-help-tackle-kidnapping-359507