What could go wrong?  Remember that numbskull who ran the red light and almost killed you? In West Virginia, all you need do is whip out your handy-dandy smartphone and click. That’s right. There’s an app for that.

West Virginia has launched a smartphone app that’s one part clever crowdsourcing and community engagement and one part sinister report-on-your-neighbor Big Brotherism. The Suspicious Activity Reporting Application is exactly what it sounds like. See something that looks like a violation of the law, no matter how insignificant? Snap a pic, tag it with GPS, and anonymously report it to the state. Parking illegally will never be the same.

Developed as a project between the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center (yes, West Virginia has an Intelligence Fusion Center), the app–available in both Apple iOS and Android flavors–is being touted by the state as an improved means of community policing. The authorities can’t be everywhere all the time, and the more information they have the better they can serve their citizens.

It’s the next logical step following anonymous tip lines and the ubiquitous “see something, say something,” campaign the government enjoys to make us all part of the team. 

We share a general desire to see crime reduced, if not eliminated.  Since we can’t carry around our own personal cop, the next best thing is to play one on our iToys.  The app eliminates the need to call less-than-enthusiastic dispatchers, who may not be nearly as concerned about our lousy neighbor parking too close to the fire hydrant (urgghh, that’s so annoying) as we are.  With people doing bad things everywhere, it’s too hard to navigate the voicemail system. And besides, they still ask for our name, and nobody wants to get involved.  With this app, all our problems magically disappear.

Yet it’s not without some issues.

But it’s easy to see how this could also spiral quickly into a mechanism for a lot of municipal and state waste, with police officers spending their hours checking out instances of dogs off the leash, neighbors parked in front of fire hydrants, and other trivial matters that don’t necessarily require police action.

Of course, triviality is in the eyes of the beholder. When it’s my neighbor parking in front of my fire hydrant, it’s hardly critical. When it’s yours, that’s an entirely different story. Please keep our police free to handle more important matters, the ones that affect me. 

And then there’s the potential for abuse, which naturally I would never do but I can’t be so sure about you.

The fact that it allows tipsters to remain anonymous is also a bit troubling. No one wants to be known as the neighborhood snitch, but without any kind of accountability it seems like an easy avenue by which feuding neighbors or angry lovers or anyone else with a grudge can drag the state–needlessly and wastefully–into their disputes.

Unmention is it’s lulz potential. Need that special youtube video? A quick set-up photo and watch the Keystone Kops come and bust up the wedding down the street. Guaranteed to go viral.

What this doesn’t account for is the ongoing trend toward turning all of us into snitches, even if we were to handle this power with care and sincerity.  Whether it’s the well-intended watcher who sees a white grandfather chasing playfully after his black granddaughter, and perceives a child kidnapping in the making, or  bottles of spicy pickles mistaken for a bomb,

Most of us are reluctant to be the neighborhood snitch, or to rush to fearful judgment that we realize could prove disastrous to some innocent person.  We’re not particularly adept at distinguishing the slightly unusual but easily explainable from the criminal, and we not inclined to become hysterical at any moment.  The time it takes to think whether we see something truly criminal allows us to reflect and decide whether we’ve just observed a real threat or are feeling bit paranoid and getting worked up over nothing. We decide not to call.

This not only saves the police from wild good chases, but our fellow citizens from encounters that can too easily become tragedies. 

Of course, that urge for revenge or to give that guy who cut you off on the highway some payback is strong.  Combine it with anonymity and the ease of reporting that this app will bring and the damage we can do is obvious. Ah, how we can laugh and laugh as the police surround him with guns drawn, just waiting for the furtive movement opportunity. That will teach him not to mess with us, right?

For now, it appears to be limited to West Virginia.  Yet another good reason to stay out of West Virginia. But just think of the fun you can have when it comes to your smartphone.  Unless, of course, your neighbor takes a picture of you first.