SHERWOOD, Ark. — The Sherwood Police Department has officially launched a brand new app.
It's a way to keep citizens in the know and increase communication between the department and the community.
According to Public Information Officer Richard McNeil, it was an idea that sparked back in 2018 and has finally turned into reality.
"It keeps you in the know, it keeps you informed, it keeps you safe," he said.
McNeil described it as a new way to interact with their community.
"As far as I know, this is the first and only one in the state of Arkansas," he said.
It's an app built to connect the citizens with the agency, McNeil said, at the click of a button.
"It has 16 different tabs and it's anything from calendars to commending of an officer, something for our school resource officers," he said.
McNeil said community members can report accidents and provide tips while receiving notifications of road closures and accessing press releases.
"Knowledge is powerful, right? Information is power, so we just want to make sure we are working in concert with the community," he said.
The ability to work in unison with the community is something, according to McNeil, the department believes is more important now than ever.
"Too many times we just get the negative, you know what I mean? Our country is divided and it's real polarized right now," he said.
With all that division surrounding them, McNeil said, the feature on the app where someone can "commend an officer" has the ability to brighten these officers' days.
"They're very supportive of us over here, but this always helps. This builds us some good faith with the community," he said.
McNeil said by having everything available at the people of Sherwood's fingertips, the department hopes it makes the city stronger and keeps everyone safer.
"We don't want people, our citizens, our residents, to walk around, drive around the city and not know what's going on in their city," he said.
The app is available to download for both Apple and Android users. Just search "Sherwood Police Department."
Officer McNeil stressed that this app is not monitored around the clock. If you have an emergency situation and need immediate assistance, still call 911.