Israel developing new emergency app to help tackle kidnapping

Distress button notifies local authorities, without victim needing to call.

Smartphone. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Smartphone.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A new smartphone app to help people from getting kidnapped is currently being developed in Israel, Channel 2 reported.
As Israeli police and security forces search for three missing Israeli teenagers, believed to be kidnapped in the West Bank – the Samaria Regional Council is working on an app that will enable people in danger to report their location to authorities. The council has reportedly hired a company to upgrade a current app already in use – so that rather than contacting police to report your whereabouts during an emergency – you can transmit your location with a push of a button on the phone.
The app alerts authorities to a person's specific location in time of need by triggering the phone's GPS system. If in danger, the app transmits an instant SMS as well as a specific place. It continues to send signals to authorities who will then notify security forces, without the person having to call.