A mobile app developed by the Hong Kong police has assisted in locating 130 distressed hikers in the countryside in its first year of launch, with all rescues completed within three hours.
The “HKSOS” app garnered around 120,000 downloads since its launch in January last year, facilitating 130 rescues across 53 cases, Swalikh Mohammed, senior superintendent of the digital policing services bureau, told the Post.
“The number of lives we potentially saved because of the app is impressive, but it is not enough. We want to spread the message and let more people know that Hong Kong actually has got such a good innovation,” he said.
Police have been using data from the app to train an artificial intelligence model to identify high-risk scenarios and began proactively tracking potential emergencies three months ago.
In one case, an individual went canoeing in the Sai Kung area and set the activity duration in the app to around three hours. When his signal indicated he was still on the water by the scheduled end time, the 999 response centre received an alert to check on his condition.
It turned out that he had simply forgotten to press the end button, but he was grateful that the team reached out to ensure his safety.
“Imagine if a person falls from a cliff or suddenly loses consciousness. We can assist them without them needing to report to us,” Mohammed added.
