COPA was developed by local digital agency Alt Labs and in partnership with Cleveland Police following a procurement process

Designed to give residents another avenue through which to engage with police and their PCC, the Cleveland Online Policing App – or COPA – was unveilved in Redcar on Monday morning (September 26). 

PCC Steve Turner said:“Through COPA, we can reduce demand on the police and direct people to the correct organisation for non-policing matters – improving the service communities receive."

COPA was developed by local digital agency Alt Labs and in partnership with Cleveland Police following a procurement process. 

The development phase took just six months following the conclusion of that process he says.

The app will allow people to report crime, feed in community-wide concerns and provide feedback on the force. Crucially, it will allow reported issues in the area to be referred to the relevant body - freeing up the force to deal with more urgent policing matters.

PCC Turner told Police Oracle that through community feedback before the app was launched "there was a general feeling that if you ring a 101 line, sometimes it will take you a while to get through”.

This created a "chicken and egg" situation whereby people were not as inclined to report incidents.

PCC Turner believes the app will be central to "proactive, rather than reactive" policing as the data it captures will be used to establish potential or emerging patterns of criminality. 

"It’s not going to increase demand [on resources], but it’s going to highlight hotspots," he added.. 

PCC Turner believes the force's officers, especially those in Neighbourhood Policing, all see COPA's "massive potential".