Cerca: ayuda en camino

At a button police on the way

“Cerca” is a mobile app for people with restraining orders under Law 54 of 1989 in Puerto Rico. The app provides an emergency button, by pressing it the user can instantly alert the Puerto Rico Police Bureau if his or her aggressor violates the restraining order or feels that they will. The application immediately sends the user's location to the Police, who will respond to the alert with urgency, arriving at the user’s location.

The app is a safer, more discreet, and faster tool against gender-based violence, as it does not require a call or the person to know their location when requesting help.

The app requires the user to have a valid restraining order. When downloading the app, the user must register with the number of said restraining order. Then the user will not have to re-enter the number.

When feeling in a dangerous situation, the user opens the application and presses the “Cerca” emergency button. The police will go to the location that the app registers and will have the information of the restraining order at hand.

Having a mobile app, integrating the technology and the response of the security components, is an additional tool that strengthens the security plan for the people who have a restraining order in case they face a situation of risk and emergency. The feeling that help is “Cerca” represents one more step in the fight against gender violence to stop the behaviors, actions and attitudes of the aggressor who violates a protection order.

Given the declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro R. Pierluisi, due to the rise in incidents of gender-based violence, initiatives and tools have been identified and implemented to safeguard the emotional well-being and physical integrity of surviving victims.

In that sense, Executive Order No. 2021-013, effective from January 25, 2021, to June 30, 2022, and the new Executive Order No. 2022-035 effective from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, provides that the Department of Public Safety will develop a program to monitor and verify the safety of any person who has a restraining order for gender violence. As part of the program, they must make collaborative agreements with the Municipal Police, to make this service viable for the surviving victims who authorize it. In turn, mechanisms must be implemented to follow up on victims of gender-based violence or people who are issued protection orders.

For this, the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service ("PRITS"), in collaboration with the Department of Public Safety, with the recommendations of the PARE Committee, must develop a mobile app for devices, through which victims and potential victims can quickly request assistance in emergency situations, hiding the message sent to protect the victim from their aggressor.

This project and tool will initially be available to people who have a restraining order under Law 54 of 1989, considering the vulnerability and risk situations faced by the victims when they go to the system to request civil help to attend to their physical safety, emotional well-being, and that of their family.