New safety alert system for Old Orchard neighbors - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Old Orchard residents have a new way to keep their neighborhood safe. 'Eye Citizen' is a new text alert system that sends out messages when someone in the area commits crimes against people or their property.  It has about a two minute delay, but doesn't cost anything to sign up.

City leaders say this doesn't mean citizens should try to catch criminals themselves. This is just a way to keep neighbors informed of what's going on in their community.

"As the police department continues to be strained in trying to handle the amount of crime, an extra pair of eyes should be helpful to let the police solve the problem," says Councilman Tom Waniewski, the local leader behind the program.  "We really are trying to satisfy a request and need that was coming to us by the community."

"I think it's a great idea, everyone has a cell phone," says Kevin Casper, a resident in Old Orchard. "You can get a text, get an alert, that something is going on and you can react to it."

Project leaders hope to roll the program out to rest of district five and then the city eventually.  To sign up for the free alerts via text messaging or e-mails, visit www.eyecitizen.org.