New City of Imperial app available to community

By Becky Kuntzelman
Imperial Republican Correspondent
The City of Imperial is excited to announce the launch of an official “City of Imperial App.” It is a one-stop resource for staying connected and informed about everything happening in our community, from submitting tips to getting critical safety alerts, and it’s available to everyone and all at your fingertips. This is a non-emergency app, and should be used as such.
Key features are as follows:
• Submit anonymous tips directly to the Imperial Police Department
• Receive real-time safety notifications
• Stay updated on city events, news and alerts
• Convenient, secure and easy to use
• Search City of Imperial in the App Store or Google Play Store, or scan the QR code
Chief Chad Ostmeyer of the Imperial Police Department began forming an idea about two years ago for an app that could be downloaded by people in the community that would tie everyone together with various city departments, thus opening a line of communication.
“Originally, I had been looking at apps for the purpose of solely providing an anonymous tip line. I had seen many police apps out there specifically for this purpose,” said Chief Ostmeyer.
As time went by, Ostmeyer had a vision to expand the app to be of even more benefit to the public but needed a plan. That plan revealed itself when he visited Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where he viewed their city app which was pushing out much more information. He saw the potential of this app to benefit our community while incorporating his original anonymous-tip idea.
“The city app in Gatlinburg showed so much more potential and reach for our community,” he said.
Ostmeyer expanded his research by looking into apps with more options.
“We have a Facebook page, but we don’t see a lot of traction, so I hope this new app will get more attention and get information to people who might need it by them downloading the app,” Ostmeyer said.
He added that the police department does receive tips by email and phone calls, but the app is readily available to anyone anytime who has it.
Some of the choices within the police section of the app is the ability to pay tickets, employee feedback and commendation or complaints for officers.
“People can register their doorbell cams or video with the police in the app. But note, we would not have access to their cameras. This information is strictly for inhouse use for identifying whose cameras might have captured people or vehicles associated with a crime in their area as an assist,” said Ostmeyer.
Some other choices in the police section of the app offer residential watches and necessary requested information for officers to complete the task.
Other city app selections included
Other city departments will have pertinent information under their own tabs within the app.
Those departments include police, fire department, utilities and the National Weather alerts.
 Everyone who downloads the City of Imperial App will have immediate access to important notifications, as well as an extensive choice of notification channels to any or all different areas of information they want to receive.  
 Any city department can send out notifications. App users simply subscribe to the ones they want or all of them, he added.
The key to the app having more potential for the community is dependent on the number of downloads people choose.
“The more people who download the app, the more effective in pushing out information,” Ostmeyer said.
“The police department is just one of the cogs in the app. I’m planning to add more as needed—it’s customizable.”
 “App information is specific to Imperial, but any county departments can request information sent out to everyone in Chase County through the app,” he continued.
 The City of Imperial App is for pertinent safety information and tips, anonymously if preferred.
“It is important to note that if you have an immediate emergency, call 911.
Accessing the app would not receive a quick response,” said Ostmeyer.
For questions or more information, contact the police department at 308-882-4400 or Tyler Pribbeno at the city office at 308-882-4368.