Chemung County Sheriff’s Office announces new mobile app

Kendall LeValley
·4 min read
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CHEMUNG COUNTY, N.Y. (WETM) – The Chemung County Sheriff’s Office has announced the launch of its new smartphone app that will help officials provide information to the county quickly and efficiently by the touch of their phone.

Chemung County Sheriff Bill Schrom announced the release of the app at a news conference on Thursday morning, April 25, at the Hazlett Building located in Elmira.

“In case you’re not aware, about 85% of people in United States have smartphones,” saisd Sheriff Schrom. “94% of the 85% that have them range from the age of 13 to 49 years old. Currently, there’s about 23 sheriff’s offices in New York State, as well as the New York State Sheriffs Association that use this particular company to launch their apps, and over 50 total subscribers. They include emergency management offices, public health departments and police departments. So, it’s gaining quite a bit of popularity,” Sheriff Schrom added.

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The app was developed by thesheriffapp.com, a brand of software company OCV, LLC., which specializes in developing mobile apps for sheriff’s offices and public safety organizations across the country.

Those who download the app will have the ability to keep up-to-date with what’s going on in the county with access to the following features and more:

  • Meet the Sheriff

  • News and alerts

  • Programs and services

  • Inmate information

  • Warrants list

  • Most wanted

  • Submit a tip

“We find this app is important,” said Undersheriff Douglas Houper. “It really puts you in line with what the Sheriff’s Office does, the services we provide, and the abilities are like no other.”

“The app allows us to do push notifications. So if there’s any emergency situations, we can send out an alert to anybody that has the app and it’ll come up on your smartphone. You can submit tips right to the app now. You can be anonymous or if you want to let us know who you are,” Undersheriff Houper said.

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“The number one reason is for the correctional facility,” Houper added. “The biggest thing around the state for the Sheriff’s Offices, is who’s in jail, they look up who’s in jail all the time. You get almost live-time book in and book out from jail. So, you’ll know who’s in jail, why they’re in there, what crimes they were, you can sign up for the victim notification system, so you’ll be notified by text or call or email when that inmate is released.”

The Sheriff’s Office says you can also use the app to pay bail and deposit money into an inmate’s commissary account to buy food, toiletries and other items. Other features include a map of registered sex offenders and a list of active warrants. The app also has information on how to call or send mail to inmates. There are also details on pistol permits, careers in the Sheriff’s Office and other services and programs.

“Although we consider this the Sheriff’s app, we affectionately call it the Simona app,” said Sheriff Schrom. “Simona is our records clerk. She and our Undersheriff did a tremendous amount of work with the company to get this app up and running. We’ve launched it softly, I guess you could say, and we’re getting quite a bit of positive feedback about it. So, we’re really excited about it. We hope it’s very useful to the community.”

“I think it’s great, said Elmira Heights resident Stefanie Ector. “I think it gives the residents more information, to be able look things up if they would like, and just sort of have that in the background if they need it. It’s a nice option to have, absolutely.”

“So you think you would use it?” asked reporter Nick Dubina.

“I plan on using it tonight after work just to see how it works,” Ector replied.

There is also a “Contact Us” section that allows people to have easy access to contact the sheriff’s office when they need it.

Those who are interested in downloading the app can do so for free in the App Store and Google Play by searching “Chemung County Sheriff, NY” or by visiting the following link.

You can watch the full app presentation below:

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