As a homeowner, safety is of the utmost importance. Staying informed about what’s happening around you is key to keeping yourself and your home safe. Luckily, in today’s tech-savvy world, plenty of convenient local crime reporting apps are designed for just that.

When it comes to maintaining home safety, knowledge is power. If you’re looking for reliable, real-time updates, here are five apps that can help you stay informed about local crime:

Citizen

Downloading the Citizen app is like having a personal crime reporter on your phone. Not only does it provide real-time alerts about incidents happening near you, but it also uses actual official police reports and 911 dispatches to keep you in the know. So whenever something happens like a local fire, a nearby accident, or even a crime, you’ll be one of the first to hear about it.

The best part? Citizen is community-based, which means you can share what you see with other users. That way, you can help spread awareness and potentially prevent future incidents from happening to others, kind of like a neighborhood watch group.

Nextdoor

If you like a more interactive app, you’ll love the Nextdoor community. Nextdoor isn’t just an app about crime; it’s a social networking platform. Think of it like a kind of Facebook for your neighborhood.

On Nextdoor, you can share local news, including crime reports. When you join a group, you can get updates on everything from lost pets to garage sales and local crime in your area.

Another cool feature is that you can hear what’s happening directly from your neighbors and sometimes even local law enforcement agencies. This allows you to stay informed and get to know people near you.

Ring Neighbors

Most people have heard of a Ring doorbell camera, but not everyone knows the company made a local crime app, too. The app is called Ring Neighbors, and it’s a game-changer for keeping citizens safe. The best part? You don’t need a Ring doorbell to use it. Simply download the app to get important notifications about your area.

Of course, if you do have a Ring camera, you can share clips from it to the platform for other users to see. That way, anyone who sees something suspicious can post the video and notify people in that area.

SpotCrime

If you’re more of a visual person, SpotCrime is probably more up your alley. The app includes a map with special icons for each type of crime: burglaries, assaults, arrests, and more happening around you. To know more, just zoom in on the area to see a report about what happened.

Another reason the app is nice is that it takes data from various sources—e.g., police reports, news, and user tips—and puts it all together to give you a comprehensive look at what’s happening around you. This makes it a super reliable source for keeping tabs on local crime.

CrimeMapping

CrimeMapping is a really convenient tool for quick and easy crime-watching. The app is perfect for anyone wanting a super detailed yet easy-to-understand look at what’s happening in their area.

Speaking of details, you can use their interactive map to get an up-close and personal look at recent crime reports filtered by type, date range, and proximity to your location. And if you really want to keep up, you can input your email to receive local crime notifications straight into your inbox.