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Saturday, February 21, 2015

Like Uber but for feudalism

This is some very exciting disruption right here.
Sidney Torres IV, the New Orleans businessman who made headlines in recent months for his television commercials blasting Mayor Mitch Landrieu over French Quarter safety, said he is putting up his own money to staff and equip the patrol for at least the next three months.

"I'm very confident in this," Torres said by phone Friday (Feb. 20). "If it works, and I have a good sense it will, funding is not going to be a problem."

The pilot program calls for three off-duty NOPD officers to patrol the Quarter in all-terrain vehicles equipped with lights and sirens. But unlike a similar plan to place off-duty NOPD officers on patrol along Bourbon Street, Torres' plan includes a smart-phone application designed to connect citizens and visitors of the Quarter directly to those patrols.

Those who download the free app, which Torres said is in its final stages of development, would be able to report in a few taps of their phone screen a crime being committed -- or suspicious activity -- to the nearest patrol officer.  A photograph could also be submitted through the app, Torres said.

All reports would also go to the NOPD 8th District, which includes the French Quarter.
It's an app that connects  smart phone users who notice "suspicious activity" directly to Sidney Torres's privatized police force.  What could possibly go wrong?

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