Social Media DNA
Apps & platforms

App: VizSAFE

· 1 min read · Arnout de Vries

VizSAFE logo: a blue and yellow shield with an eye containing the letter S and the slogan “See it. Send it.”

VizSAFE is a social media platform that empowers ordinary citizens to play an active role in the well being of their communities by posting and sharing photos or videos from their smartphones. Today, with close to 2 billion smartphones in use worldwide, people are capturing compelling and valuable content in their communities. VizSAFE aggregates, maps and shares this content instantly with members of your community and first responders. VizSAFE is free to everyone, including citizens, municipalities and community service organizations.

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For police agencies, VizSAFE eliminates the need for high cost silo-ed, community specific apps each with a confusing array of interfaces and functionality. With VizSAFE, organizations can simply leverage their existing social presence on Facebook and Twitter to drive citizen participation and at no cost to the organization or the public.

VizSAFE members are good neighbors who care about the safety and well being of their family, friends and communities. At VizSAFE, they view safety broadly to include issues that people encounter everyday, such as a downed tree on a powerline, a flooded road or a stray animal. For more serious issues, VizSAFE is a tool to enable the public to share real-time visual information with first responders.

Because VizSAFE is two-way, law enforcement and public safety organizations can send notifications to the public to seek their assistance or to provide important safety information. These notifications can include photos or videos and are geolocated so alerts can be targeted to VizSAFE users in a specific area. VizSAFE has already partnered with several organizations that have an interest in or responsibility for public safety. And we already know citizen engagement adds tremendous value to public safety, so give it a spin if your community seems ready for it.

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Sources: iTunes, Google Play, VizSAFE

VizSAFE iPhone screenshot showing a map of the San Francisco Bay Area with red report markers and a pop-up reading “San Francisco Police make h…”.VizSAFE iPhone screenshot of the Feed tab with reports by VizSAFE Reports, including a photo of a house fire tagged #fire and a bridge traffic camera image tagged #traffic.

This video is no longer available. Original on YouTube

VizSAFE flyer with the headline “See it. Send it.”, an invitation to download the free app to capture photos and videos of safety concerns and share them with your community, a QR code and a phone showing the report screen with fire, crime and medical channels.

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Questions about this article

What is VizSAFE?

VizSAFE is a free social media platform and app on which citizens share photos and videos of safety issues in their community. It maps the content and shares it with other members and first responders.

How can police agencies use VizSAFE?

According to the article, agencies do not need their own community-specific app: they can use their existing Facebook and Twitter presence to drive citizen participation. They can also send geolocated notifications, including photos or videos, to ask the public for help or share safety information.

What kinds of issues can be reported on VizSAFE?

Everyday issues such as a downed tree on a power line, a flooded road or a stray animal, as well as more serious incidents for which the public shares real-time visual information with first responders.

Questions and answers added in 2026, based on the article above.