The Ertzaintza is the autonomous police of the Basque Country, a Spanish autonomous community. Currently, the Ertzaintza is considered the "integral police force" of the Basque Country. It is the holder of all powers in public order, citizen security, traffic and games and shows of autonomy. It also carries out anti-terrorist, investigative and judicial police tasks. The Ertzaintza and the Security Department of the Basque Government have implemented the app for mobile devices so that citizens can contact the Ertzaintza through a user-friendly interface.
The app can be downloaded in any of the stores of the different operating systems (Android, iOS and Blackberry) and allows direct contact with the Ertzaintza; both by phone (toll-free 900 lines) and SMS, as well as by WhatsApp instant messaging, email or anonymously. It also has the option to contact SOS Deiak (112) in an emergency. The app offers new communication channels to strengthen citizen collaboration and thus offer a fast, quality and reliable service. On the main screen of the app, the eight main functionalities of the application are shown:
The settings screen allows you to set the application's language and enter the user's phone number associated with the GPS coordinates when an emergency is reported through the "Emergencies" button. It is possible to check the GPS status and access the phone's location settings. The Ertzaintza app does not store personal data in any case. The application optionally requests data such as the user's location or mobile number to obtain the nearest police station and reduce assistance times in emergency calls. This information is not stored, recorded or sent in any case thus maintaining anonymity at all time. The Ertzaintza app allows citizens to be constantly in touch with reliable news verified by the basque police which prevent the misuse of fake news coming from other sources. The main limitation is that some citizens do not rely on advice given by the police, when these go against their own judgement. For example, a citizen might not give importance to the advice given of not going to the mountain for adverse weather conditions.
A minimum knowledge of technologies is required (for users).
The app allows citizens to send pictures and videos at any time, if the perception of responsibility is high, they will use more the app. Dissemination campaigns are needed to support the uptake of the app by citizens.
If the citizens do not trust the authority, they will not use the app.
Older adults with limited knowledge of new technologies are likely to choose other 'more traditional' communication channels such as emergency phone lines. There seems to be no difference in the use of the app between rural and urban areas.
A minimum knowledge of technologies is required. The app will be used by those citizens accustomed to using new technologies such as mobile applications in their day today. Therefore, those with little technological knowledge are less likely to use the app.
The app allows citizens to send pictures and videos at any time, if the perception of responsibility is high, they will use the app more.
Citizens require a minimum of knowledge about technologies, and resources to buy the technologies and associated services.
The app was implemented in the Basque country, which is a Spanish autonomous community located at the eastern end of the Cantabrian Sea coast, bordering France. It is made up of the provinces or historical territories of Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya. The most populated city is Bilbao, followed by Vitoria and San Sebastián. Its population is 2.16 million people; nearly half live in the Bilbao metropolitan area. Currently, the Basque Country has one of the most dynamic regional economies in Spain. The industry represents 24 per cent of GDP, eight points above the national average.
After the technical development of the Ertzaintza app, a promotion phase began to boost the use of the tool by Basque citizens. For this, a series of measures and advertising campaigns were implemented:
The app was used during the pandemic to:
The Ertzaintza app was the most-used channel during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Basque country, and was supported by institutions and different media. It became the principal information source on the pandemic. An evidence of its good reception among citizens during the pandemic is the increased number of users. In February 2020, the Ertzaintza received 261 communications from citizens, while in November 2020, they received 28,385. The significant increase in app users shows the effectiveness of the APP.
The app became a communication channel between citizens and the administration during the pandemic. Many trade associations and economic sectors used the APP to obtain information on the new security measures.
No technical changes have been implemented in the application. After the pandemic and the consequent increase in the use of the app, the organizational aspect of the app changed to be able to manage the increased number of communications.
The health alarm due to the Covid-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for the proper functioning of the tool.
The increase in calls, SMS, emails, WhatsApp required an increase in the number of operators, which required a lot of organizational work. Moreover, the use of WhatsApp as a communication channel requires one person per phone line, thus limiting the communication with a large number of people. The challenges posed by the increased number of communications were solved by increasing the number of staff and operators.
Many of the operators needed training as they were not familiar with the application.
On counted occasions, people with mental disorders misused the application.
Vulnerable groups or people with disabilities were not considered when designing the App.