The free “Bexar County Sheriff’s Office” app includes several resources aimed at supporting families with loved ones in custody.
SAN ANTONIO — The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has launched a new mobile app designed to give residents instant access to public-safety tools – from searching the jail roster to viewing an interactive map of registered sex offenders.
“In this day and age, the folks demand instant information, constant information. And that’s exactly what this app allows us to do,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said. He noted the project has been nearly a year in the making.
The free “Bexar County Sheriff’s Office” app includes several resources aimed at supporting families with loved ones in custody. Users can search the inmate population, check whether someone is currently held in the county jail and even deposit money for commissary purchases.
One of the app’s most prominent features is an interactive map showing registered sex offenders throughout Bexar County.
“You’ve got it there at your fingertips,” Salazar said. “Anywhere in Bexar County you can figure out where these folks are.”
Residents can also submit anonymous crime tips and sign up for instant alerts on major incidents. Salazar said the tool will allow the sheriff’s office to quickly notify the public about emergencies ranging from fugitives on the run to highway closures or hazardous-material situations.
“If we have a fugitive on the loose somewhere, if we’ve got a highway closure because an 18-wheeler crash, overturned train derailment with a plume of chemical smoke moving somewhere – that’s the kind of information we can push out, and then people will receive it as a text message instantaneously,” he said.
Salazar said the department plans to keep improving the app as new needs and technologies emerge.
“We’re working with the developers of the app to figure out what else is out there, so we can keep reinventing this app to keep making the information more relevant, more instantaneous,” he said.
The app is free. You can download it on the App Store or Google Play Store, just search ‘Bexar County Sheriff’s Office’.