Harford County Launches Community Complaints App

The next time you see a pothole, graffiti or any other public concern, Harford wants you to take a photo of it with your smart phone.

Apple, Android, Blackberry and Windows phone users can now download "Harford County Connect," a free app that allows people to send GPS-coordinated photos and videos directly to the administration. Craig and a county spokesman demonstrated how the app works inside the county office building on Thursday.

"It's often said a picture is worth a thousand words," said Craig. "That can actually be true sometimes, and we believe we're going to use a new technology to make that true for the citizens who live in Harford County."

During the demonstation, county spokesman Ben Lloyd took a photo of a crumbled piece of paper on the floor with his iPad and performed the steps to send a report. 

On the app's home screen, users can tap "Submit a Report" to either take a new photo or select a photo from their album. Before completing the process, users can select the type of incident they are reporting and write any additional details. Complaints will be sent to the Office of Constituent Services for review and then forwarded to the corresponding department to address it.

"Every time a submission is taken, you'll receive a notification. There will be a star over the app icon and you can see what has taken place," said Lloyd.

Users must submit their first and last names and an email address. The app displays a list of all incidents but doesn't disclose who sends them.

For people who don't own a smartphone, they can use the county's website to submit reports. 

CitySourced Mobile Communications, a company out of Los Angeles, produced the application.

Types of reports that can be submitted include street flooding, homeless concerns, illegal signs, untagged vehicles, water leaks, yard waste, noise complaints, street light concerns, illegal fires and road kill.

"We can create a log of all of the issues. If there's something in a community that's recurring we can find the trend in that community and maybe address the problem," said Aaron Tomarchio, Craig's chief of staff.