Holmes Sheriff app brings info to people’s fingertips

The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office has built a new app that provides insight into the world of local law enforcement. It was created in collaboration with the company, TheSheriffApp.com, and was built to be utilized on both Android and Apple devices.

According to deputy Richard Haun, Holmes County Sheriff’s Office police chief, the app allows them to communicate valuable information to the public that is accurate, timely and quick.

“This allows us to share the type of information we want to pass on to the public, information that is very valuable to them,” Haun said. “It is one more way that we are able to connect with the community and stay in touch about what is going on in the county that might be pertinent to people.”

Before the app came into play, the sheriff’s office had only its Facebook page to share valuable information with the public. While it remains a valuable tool, it doesn’t provide the same depth and speed in sharing with the public the app affords.

“We had seen the app with other Ohio law-enforcement agencies and were interested in it, and it has been really great so far,” Haun said. “They basically built us an app from the ground up, using the information we wanted to convey to people, so it is personalized specifically for us.”

The new app helps people navigate through critical information in a simple fashion, allowing them to gain insight on the current jail roster, a list of sex offenders, most-wanted submit tips, weather and more. It also allows people to submit tips to the police. Haun said the National Weather Service portion of the app is especially user-friendly on a daily basis.

“As soon as there is a weather alert, those come out on the app,” Haun said. “Since COVID-19 came out, TheSheriffApp.com created a free app that can be used on our app that gives people up-to-date information on CDC alerts, along with any local information concerning COVID-19.”

The real-time jail roster portion of the app is updated immediately when a new name is rostered at the jail.

“As soon as somebody gets booked into the jail, their name, information and photograph go on to the app automatically,” Haun said. “People now have that information at their fingertips.”

Haun said Holmes County Sheriff Tim Zimmerly has always promoted communication between his office and the public, and when this opportunity became available, the office leaped at the chance to use it. He said the Facebook page was quite a bit more manual than the app. He said this new function has made creating and providing information much quicker and easier.

“So much of this is automated, or we can go in manually and push information out manually, so it gives us a much more robust way to provide information,” Haun said. “We can keep alerts going for as long as we want to.”

Haun said people can set alerts on their phone that notify them of any activity they would like to be notified of, noting the instantaneous alerts have been very popular.

The app is available to download by logging on to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and type in “Holmes County Sheriff Office” to download the app. Haun does warn that people need to be careful in selecting which Holmes County app they want because both of the Holmes counties in Florida and Mississippi have their own apps.

“Pick the right Holmes County or you might end up getting information from way down south,” Haun said.

The app is connected to the Holmes County Sheriff Facebook page.