Mexico may tap the potential of apps, smartphone use and their citizenry’s initiative in the near future to help curb crime in the country.

Speaking at a Google-organized conference in California yesterday, Alejandro Poire, Mexico’s interior minister, asked why can’t an app be developed to help fight crime?

“Ninety-five million people in Mexico own a cell phone today. These are a powerful tools that can help us get information, obtain it from images,” Poire was quoted as saying in the Google conference by the Agence France-Presse.

“What if we could develop a system that uses this technology and actually went not just to the people in the call center, but to citizen watchdogs that would allow us and help us to monitor,” the interior minister asked.

“We could probably produce a simple, practical, very basic software that would allow us to increase our capabilities of reporting crime to police,” he explained.

Mexico has long had a hurting criminal problem closely connected to the massive drug trade stemming from the country. The government of Mexico wants to step up its efforts in fighting crime in the country.

Image from icexmaker on Flickr (CC)

About Solon Harmony Dolor

A passion for technology and journalism makes this upcoming writer very interested in social media and technology news. Fresh from finishing an English and Journalism degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, he aims to bring interesting news to our readers .