Tech Startup Born Out of Fishers Innovation
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA tech startup recently launched out of the High Alpha venture studio in Indianapolis traces its roots to a crime reporting platform developed in Fishers. Relay Software Inc. allows citizens to use a mobile app to report non-emergency incidents to first responders. Chief Executive Officer DJ Muller says the startup was created after seeing the success of the Fishers CrimeWatch app in the Hamilton County city.
Muller talked about the creation of Relay Software in an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.
“The (city) of Fishers partnered up with the citizens and the chief of police…and they really wanted a way to solve crimes, but also to help the citizens really engage directly with law enforcement to just serve the public better,” said Muller. “That idea took on a form of what they called CrimeWatch and it worked great and they had thousands of people sending things in. That idea got brought over to High Alpha just to see if they could make this into a national platform and that’s exactly what happened.”
Users of Relay’s platform can use the mobile app to report a non-emergency incident, such as a suspicious vehicle, which is automatically sent to the nearest law enforcement official. Law enforcement can also respond to the person who sent the incident report to let them know what occurred as a result.
Muller says one of the goals of the platform is to help 911 dispatchers focus on real emergencies.
“We all know that 911 systems are really understaffed and they’ve got a lot going on and their focus needs to be on emergency, but unfortunately more than half of the issues that come into the emergency centers are actually non-emergencies. So really our vision is to be able to help all public safety personnel by being able to alleviate some of that pressure on the dispatch centers.”
The app has more than 5,000 users with public service agencies in Hamilton County, Fishers, Avon and Fortville partnering with the system. Muller says they have seen early success.
“We’ve had arrests made off of it. Porch pirates have been caught. (We’ve) been able to solve some minor hit-and runs and the officers love getting the pictures. That just really informs them.”
Muller says partnering with High Alpha has been crucial in scaling the company and planning toward future growth.