Guardian Citizen App?

I received an email today asking if I wanted to participate in this Guardian Citizen App for public awareness in Northern NJ. Has anyone heard of this or know anyone involved in this? I am also not sure the legality of reporting things heard on the scanner on a public app. I know it is illegal to discuss current detective investigations, but what about general incidents such as fires, gunshots in a certain area, train derailments, etc..? Personally, I think this potential app is a great idea because it gives scanner enthusiasts like us in the NYC and NJ area to provide public awareness, since we know the media doesn't always report everything on social media or report things in a timely matter. Here is the link I was provided in the email.

GuardianNet

Just the second half of it it IS legal to discuss fires, motor vehicle accidents or other "public interest" stuff. I havie taled to multiple public safety officials about this fact. They on't want "sensitive" information leaked, like a victim's name or anything. Very interesting service

Yeah, it does seem very interesting. I am thinking about joining. I cant help them too much with my old analog scanner, but may give it a try anyway.

The Citizen app has been live in NYC for at least a few years. If you ever watch local NYC news you will often see video aired courtesy of the Citizen app. The purpose of the app was for people to report crimes and other incidents in their local area and then other "citizens" of that local area would get the alerts. In my opinion it's a little unnecessary given how many Facebook groups do the same thing.

Yeah, I looked into it, but wasn't really impressed for same reason as you mentioned.

Local news getting free video and is citizen app making money off you and your video

IMHO, this kind of app only encourages encryption. In my area, several dept's have encrypted and at the time they specifically said it was because of cell phone apps and social media sites broadcasting everything. In general, most cops know that a home hobbyist (amateur operator, radio nut, radio tech, etc) is not the problem. But there were several cases locally where the "hood rats" were using cell apps to avoid police and as a result, now all of these dept comms are now fully encrypted. It could backfire and happen to you too.

It's just a BNN and 1RWN rip-off. But I agree that, unfortunately, these types programs do tend to inspire public safety communications policies of many varieties, which are detrimental to this hobby. Much like live streams. I know NYPD DCPI loathes all of the above.

RadioDitch said:

It's just a BNN and 1RWN rip-off. But I agree that, unfortunately, these types programs do tend to inspire public safety communications policies of many varieties, which are detrimental to this hobby. Much like live streams. I know NYPD DCPI loathes all of the above.

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I agree with this point, however I don't believe the Citizen app is geared directly at scanner users. It was more of a way for people (citizens) to report things that they saw happening in their neighborhood, while walking to work, etc. I don't think the intent was that people would be sitting at home listening to a scanner and then running out to catch the footage to post on the app.

I just downloaded the app. It covers NYC and San Francisco only right now, they are the only two options they give.

There are way too many wannabes out there with scanners, two-way radios, antennas, lights and sometimes even sirens, playing cops. I'm sure intentions are good, but they often get in the way.

People that want to be cops should join a police department and become trained police officers.

I know NYPD DCPI loathes all of the above.

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They "loathe" anyone who makes their phones ring, especially if it is someone from "the public," despite what the "P" in their name says.

There was a time when TV news stations would pay substantial money (for those days) for film or video of an incident. There were at least two or three "freelance" video companies in NYC at the time who could "live" off of their incomes (as long as they had low overhead). But now that everyone has a camera of one sort of another, they don't have to pay anything, since everyone passing by the incident whips out their phones and are looking for a station representative at the scene to give it to.

ten13 said:

They "loathe" anyone who makes their phones ring, especially if it is someone from "the public," despite what the "P" in their name says.

There was a time when TV news stations would pay substantial money (for those days) for film or video of an incident. There were at least two or three "freelance" video companies in NYC at the time who could "live" off of their incomes (as long as they had low overhead). But now that everyone has a camera of one sort of another, they don't have to pay anything, since everyone passing by the incident whips out their phones and are looking for a station representative at the scene to give it to.

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OnScene TV and Loudlabs are 2 of the biggest freelance news groups. They started out in LA but I recently saw Loudlabs footage on a local NYC newscast.

ten13 said:

They "loathe" anyone who makes their phones ring, especially if it is someone from "the public," despite what the "P" in their name says.

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Touche. Impossible to argue with that. Sad but true.

ansky said:

OnScene TV and Loudlabs are 2 of the biggest freelance news groups. They started out in LA but I recently saw Loudlabs footage on a local NYC newscast.

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Loudlabs just expanded into New York City after attracting several veteran freelancers. You've seen these guys' footage before, just that part of Loudlabs' policy is always having their name on it. Scott Lane, the owner, talked about it in an interview recently.

OnSceneTV is actually in four or five cities in Arizona, California, and Texas. I've actually met the owner/operator Zak Holman in person while in LA though via a mutual interest in motorcycles. Good guy, and shrewd businessman. Which is why you'll never see him in New York...not enough meat on the bone.

Tac-1 said:

Local news getting free video and is citizen app making money off you and your video

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Citizen does not earn any commission from the videos what so ever.

RadioDitch said:

It's just a BNN and 1RWN rip-off. But I agree that, unfortunately, these types programs do tend to inspire public safety communications policies of many varieties, which are detrimental to this hobby. Much like live streams. I know NYPD DCPI loathes all of the above.

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Not a rip off by any means, Citizen actually verifies their information and statistically beats out BNN and 1RWN by longshots in time as well as actually having the correct and verified information. Also DCPI doesnt loathe Citizen at all.

ansky said:

I agree with this point, however I don't believe the Citizen app is geared directly at scanner users. It was more of a way for people (citizens) to report things that they saw happening in their neighborhood, while walking to work, etc. I don't think the intent was that people would be sitting at home listening to a scanner and then running out to catch the footage to post on the app.

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Correct, though we are currently looking to grow our "GuardianNetwork" as mentioned in the above post, as another poster mentions as well there are already a million FB groups, but why not consolidate them into one place with the correct and verified info and a radio infrastructure that is multiple times better then John Smith's old Uniden hooked up to a window mount antenna guessing 10-codes.

RadioChief55 said:

I just downloaded the app. It covers NYC and San Francisco only right now, they are the only two options they give.

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We have started to expand into New Jersey as well and are actively recruiting for assistance in expanding outwards more, as well as though that want to assist in getting Newark/Jersey City/Hoboken and Bayonne off of the ground.

iMONITOR said:

There are way too many wannabes out there with scanners, two-way radios, antennas, lights and sometimes even sirens, playing cops. I'm sure intentions are good, but they often get in the way.

People that want to be cops should join a police department and become trained police officers.

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Citizen explicitly states to not get involved and the app merely provides safety and transparency, since Citizens launch we have not had an issue with officers or people "playing cop".

ansky said:

OnScene TV and Loudlabs are 2 of the biggest freelance news groups. They started out in LA but I recently saw Loudlabs footage on a local NYC newscast.

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LoudLabs NYCs branch was started out here by a former freelance filmer of the Citizen app. He still uses the app for his information to this day.

Any further questions or concerns on Citizen I'd be more then happy to answer! As well any interested parties in assisting us make New Jersey safer and expand the product are welcomed to message me directly. Thanks,

Has anyone else tried this yet? Was poking around last night. Pretty interesting.

Scanner listening is better on GuardianNet than Broadcasitfy because they cut out silence and let you listen to multiple channels, but Broadcastify has more areas to listen to which I sometimes use