Controversial Brookline Police App Reports Stays For Now

BROOKLINE, MA — When an IT specialist and parent of two Brookline School students came to the department and offered to create an app - for free- for the police to use to help keep students safe, they couldn't see a reason why they shouldn't accept it. But a month after its release, what police describe as a new way to let them know if you're concerned about threats at school or town has kicked up concern. Some question why the department did not ask the Select Board before accepting the gift, others say there should have been much more public input.

The Diversity Commission voted 5-0 to ask to have the app pulled on a temporary basis because of the way the app was rolled out, said Robert Lepson who is on the commission.

"It's not just because we don't like the app, but because it was done in a behind closed doors way, without the community having the opportunity to explore this," he said, saying the app rolled out prematurely.

Police Chief Andrew Lipson said he acknowledged the process should have been better for the six month pilot for the app.

"The message is received loud and clear that our roll out could have been better and there could have been more public dialogue," he said. "We've added a means of communication, but we have not added a new genre of communication."

But he argued against pulling it now, saying the benefits outweighed the potentially negative results of having the app go dark, ending the pilot early.

Scott Ananian, who is a tech specialist and Town Meeting member raised questions about just how anonymous the data might be. He noted that simply downloading the app a user had to allow the app to have permissions to use everything from contacts to calendar info on a user's phone.

Select board members encouraged the department to involve more departments and public as it accessed the pilot. Some questioned what kinds of reports would actually be productive to report via an app.

The chief said this was a way to get reports that might otherwise lip through the cracks.

"The reason this came about was people were not getting involved because they did not want to be involved," he said.

That spurred a conversation in the department about how to engage more people so as not to miss the types of reports of incidents that could lead to serious crime, or indicate potential violent shootings or something similar.

The board asked that the chief begin to address the app's security concerns, make sure to track the number of anonymous tips that came in that appeared to involve minorities and report to town administrator. The board noted it planned to schedule another update and possible vote on whether to pull the app.

People have been reporting issues to the local police anonymously via phone, but over the past few years anonymous tip line efficacy has dwindled, according to Lipson.

More to come.

RELATED:

• Brookline Police Release App To Report Anonymous Tips
• As Brookline Police App Draws Criticism, Police Invite Questions

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).