Immediacy was the main challenge when dealing with criminal actions or supporting emergency situations by residents of Valdivia on the part of of the commune's public security department. In this sense, the focus of the efforts was placed on connectivity, allowing public institutions and neighbors to collaborate in those situations that require immediate attention and management.
Company
Valdivia is the capital city of the Los Ríos Region located in southern Chile. It has a population of approximately 166,080 inhabitants and is characterized for being one of the largest university cities in the country, in addition to being a highly tourist attraction in the summer months.
Noted for its public spaces, culture and nature, today it has positioned itself in one of the cities with the highest quality of life in Chile.
Challenges before SOSAFE
Before working collaboratively with SOSAFE, Valdivia had the challenge of connectivity between the residents of the commune. Valdivia is a commune with more than 1,000 square kilometers and two accesses that connect it with Route 5, however, even so, there are many places that cannot be reached by land. In this sense, having an organized and connected community was essential for unexpected risk situations that could occur.
Implementation
In June 2020, SOSAFE began to be implemented in the Valdivia commune. At that time, the alerts generated by the neighbors in the application were received by the SOSAFE Call Center, referring the case to the relevant services for immediate support.
In September of 2022, the Public Security Department of the commune gave the go-ahead to technology and managed to have all the necessary tools for the reception, attention and referral of the alerts generated in the app. In this way, today the alerts that the neighbors generate in SOSAFE arrive directly to the corresponding municipal department automatically.
Likewise, the municipality has been carrying out a series of training talks for the download and use of SOSAFE, strongly promoting its dissemination on social networks as a formal channel for receiving alerts from the municipality. In the words of the city's Municipal Security Director:
"These talks are essential for residents to understand that community work is essential to eradicate crime from our neighborhoods. When communities are united, they work much better on prevention issues and can achieve great results."
– Pedro Rocha, Municipal Security Director in Valdivia
Results and benefits
In less than a year, Valdivia has managed to double the number of residents protected by SOSAFE. As of December 2022, more than 27% of households in the commune have and actively use SOSAFE.
The number of residents registered in the app has allowed a collaborative security network to be strengthened, where the alerts, in addition to notifying the relevant services, notify the neighbors who are close to the event and can organize themselves immediately.
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