Crime Alert to Your Cellphone

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Two years ago, former insurance executive Brent Mayeux saw a gap between the rising crime problem and a community in need of peace of mind.

Mayeux says he was motivated to create Partnership For Safety.

"Partnership For Safety is a neighborhood watch on steroids," says Mayeux.

It is an internet-based crime alert service.

Mayeux says it allows you to get an e-mail or a text message when there's a crime in your neighborhood, at your child's school, wherever there's a threat.

The concept was conceived in 2006 while he was watching news reports of a serial bank robber.

"He was going state to state and I realized that there was no universal communication between business and the community," says Mayeux.

It took two years to develop, but on October 1, Mayeux launched Partnership for Safety and it is catching on.

Mayeux says, "This weekend we signed up 100 subscribers in one of the markets."

The service is in several markets, including Orlando, Toledo, Ohio and Detroit.

For $10.50 a month, he says a subscriber gets peace of mind. Because the service is internet-based, Mayeux says there are no limits.

"They can monitor Jacksonville and New Orleans if they want to," says Mayeux.

If there's a crime in a subscriber's area, it is reported to a Partnership For Safety Monitor, then it is verified with police, at that point every subscriber in the affected area is notified.

Mayeux says the process takes five minutes.

He says the key to its success is the users, the subscribers who desire a safe neighborhood.

"There's no way we can make a difference without the people," says Mayeux.

Partnership For Safety is not affiliated with any third party like a law enforcement agency. But it has received the endorsement of law enforcement and a letter of support from the White House.

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