A new digital application aimed at improving emergency response times for South Africans has been launched by Limpopo-based innovator Mapula Mailula.
The Crime Emergency App is designed to allow users to report incidents in real time, connect with authorities, and reduce the delays that often occur when people try to reach emergency services by phone.
Mailula said the app addressed several gaps in the current emergency response system, including slow turnaround times, the risk of alerting perpetrators during a phone call, and the difficulty authorities have in locating callers.
“The crime emergency is trying to solve the turnaround time of request and arrival of authorities at the scenes. It’s also trying to close the gap of getting requesters or clients in more danger. Because as we all know, when you report on your cellphone, the perpetrator might hear you and also put your life in more danger – and it is also trying to solve the problem of the authorities not knowing the exact location of the scene,” Mailula says.
The app features a panic button, a whistleblower function, a camera system linked to authorities, and a live tracking dashboard. In an emergency, Mailula says authorities could receive a user’s request within four minutes and monitor their location in real time, including if they were being moved.
“In four minutes, you would have tapped on your crime emergency application and they would have already seen your request on the dashboard. The fortunate part is that we have the live location in cases where you are in danger of hijackings or human trafficking and you are being moved from the location that you are — they will be seeing you on the routes where you’re going,” Mailula says.
The app is currently connected to several private emergency medical services and two private security companies, with a third integration expected within weeks. It is not yet formally connected to SAPS stations, though Mailula says she had been working with a brigadier in Polokwane to assist users on a case-by-case basis while awaiting national approval.
“The success story that we have is that people who have requested through the application or to me directly have got help immediately after they’ve spoken to me or immediately after they had communication with the brigadier, and the assistance they got was actually more thorough than when they used a telephone call because the response was more efficient and faster,” Mailula says.
To cater for users without smartphones or data access, the app includes a USSD code that is free to use. Mailula says she was also establishing Community Policing Forum youth groups in rural areas to assist residents who could not access the app directly, with a formal launch planned for October.
“When you enter a rural area and you have a problem and you don’t have access to a cellphone, you can just visit the nearest selected CPF that’s in the rural area, or you can use the USSD code which is free,” Mailula says.
The app is currently available via a link on Mailula’s social media accounts on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram while awaiting approval from app stores. It is operational at a provincial level in Limpopo, with plans to escalate to national SAPS integration.
Crime Emergency App reports crime in real-time:
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