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Quinn unveils app to report sexual harassment – Metro US

Quinn unveils app to report sexual harassment

Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Christine Quinn Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In an effort to stop sexual harassment on the street, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has unveiled a new smartphone app designed to allow victims to report incidents in real time.

Victims can use the app, produced by nonprofit group Hollaback, to send information on when, where and how they were harassed, The New York Daily News reports. The information is not only sent to the app’s database, but also to the City Council and the mayor’s office.

“Reporting this takes back your power and says, ‘What happens to me on the streets matters, and I’m going to let the city of New York and Hollaback know it happened to me,'” Quinn said.

The app compiles the submitted data and adds it to a digital map. Users can see where sexual harassment incidents have occurred via purple flags that mark the locations on the map.

Users also have the option to send their information anonymously.

“With this new tool, New York City will be the first city to undertake an effort to gather the data needed to understand the scope of street harassment,” Quinn said.

A previous version of the app did not collect specifics on the incidents in a systematic way like the newer version does, the News reports. It also did not give users the option to send the information to the City Council and the mayor’s office.