Samenvatting

In former times, citizens themselves were responsible for ensuring and protecting their own safety. Over the years, this responsibility largely shifted to the government, partly due to the establishment of an institutionalized police force. In recent years, citizens have increasingly reestablishing themselves in domain of social security. Citizens are engaged in tasks that are traditionally seen as primarily the responsibility of the police, such as law enforcement, criminal investigation and immediate in case of emergencies.
Technology can be considered as one of the major driving forces behind this increasing contribution of citizens in the field of security. Technology makes it possible to quickly find and share information and enhances people’s ability to deal with cognitively complex tasks. In a certain way, technology democratizes police work by making the skills and tools available for every citizen.
In this article we will discuss the value of a specific form of technological support for citizens in their search for missing persons: the missing persons app ‘Sarea’. The Netherlands has a high number of missing persons and in many incidents citizens start searching themselves. Often, this citizen initiatives are uncoordinated. Therefore, an app has been developed by the police to help citizens start and coordinate their own searches for a missing person.