COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT THRU EDUCATION ON USING THE SAFE AREA APPLICATION FOR CRIME PREVENTION

Abstract

This service was carried out to address the low literacy of the community in utilizing digital security applications as a tool for mitigating violence and criminal acts at the village level. This condition is evident from the still-limited ability of residents to report quickly, use the emergency button, and read the safe area map, meaning the potential of the Safe Area application has not fully supported community safety needs. This activity aims to enhance residents' understanding and skills thru structured education, including interactive workshops, application usage demonstrations, event simulations, and group discussions in Gemblengan Village, Getas Village, and Pengkok Village. The training method is designed to be practical, with a direct learning approach using each participant's mobile device. Evaluation was conducted thru pre-tests and post-tests on 28 partners to measure the improvement in knowledge and skills after training. The results show a significant increase in scores for almost all participants, indicating that the mentoring method successfully strengthened residents' readiness to use the application in real-life situations. This program provides a strong foundation for community-based security strengthening and demonstrates that targeted digital education can have a direct impact on citizens' awareness and ability to face potential risks in their environment.

Keywords: Violence Mitigation; Security Applications; Digital Education; Community Training; Rapid Reporting