New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a city-run “NYC Public Safety” account on the Citizen app. The account delivers geo-targeted alerts from the NYPD, FDNY and NYC Emergency Management, and gives agencies dashboard access to view and download incident videos submitted by users.
Citizen CEO Andrew Frame says the app gives roughly 10 million users tools to protect themselves. He describes Citizen’s growth from an early New York City crime-alert app into a national public safety platform.
Sequoia Capital stops funding crime app Citizen after leading its $12 million Series A in 2017 and placing partner Mike Vernal on its board. Vernal resigns after Citizen proposes a pay-to-play round, and the company raises the capital it needs from other backers.
NBC News examines Citizen, the public safety app developed by sp0n, Inc., and its real-time alerting network. Citizen blends crowd-sourced incident reports and live video, prompting questions about the boundaries of its surveillance network.
