A 31-year-old man from Entumbane, Bulawayo, has partnered First Defence Security Services Company to develop a panic button rapid response service for residents to curb rising crime in Zimbabwe’s second largest city.
Self-taught ICT enthusiast Devine Mhenyu said his passion for developing websites led to the creation of the mobile application this year after returning home from South Africa, where he completed matric studies.
“Following this application I then sold my idea to First Defence Security Services which it accepted as a viable tool, marking the start of our journey,” he told Southern Eye.
Mhenyu said the high crime rate in Entumbane led him to develop an app that would assist resident to respond to criminal activities quickly.
“I realised that neighbourhood watch committees were facing challenges in crime management so I wanted to introduce the idea to them but faced some difficulties. I engaged First Defence Security Services and that is when the journey started,” he said.
“The application uses data to trigger an alarm by clicking the application then the call centre will avail all the information about the subscriber then a response from the service providers will follow promptly and deal with the perpetrators.”
Meanwhile, First Defence Security Services chief executive Nyasha Chijena said they launched the app in Entumbane over the weekend with nearly 4 000 residents showing interest.
“Residents will subscribe US$3 per month to get a full package. We started off by conducting a survey where 3 600 households expressed interest and today we are launching it by calling upon residents to come and register,” she said.
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“This is our pilot project here and we will be moving to other wards to cover the whole city and create employment in each and every location.”
She said rapid response vehicles would be deployed at every location for quick response to crimes, adding that this would depend on numbers, with areas with high crime rates getting more vehicles.
Entumbane residents’ association chairperson Mehluli Moyo welcomed the move taken by the security company and encouraged residents to register in order to fight the rising crime rate in the area.
