PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. -- While much have the world has slowed down over the last few months, some, are working in turbo speed.

What You Need To Know

  • St. Pete tech company builds app for law enforcement

  • App allows officers to respond from a safe distancel

  • More on Callyo

“Typically building an app for multiple platforms is something that takes many months if not over a year,” said Chris Bennett, founder of Callyo, a St. Petersburg-based tech company.

Bennett knew he didn’t have months when COVID-19 began to spread in the U.S. in just days.

“When we got the call saying the law enforcement community needs help, they need better video connectedness to residents, and we knew we could do that challenge, that’s when our team really stepped up to the plate and got it done,” said Bennett.

It took just weeks.

Born out of a crisis, Nectar aims to avoid just that.

The app allows residents to virtually connect with law enforcement during non-emergency situations to keep healthy relationships, and keep a distance as this pandemic continues.

“Being able to have that video, that face-to-face interaction with a law enforcement officer creates a better sense of community, connectedness, it really makes the citizen feel like they’re getting a better response while also keeping the law enforcement officer safe as well,” said Bennett.

It stems from 10-21, an app used by law enforcement to connect with the community through phone.

Now, residents can download Nectar, which will allow them to enable the video calls with participating agencies.

The idea is, with that face-to-face interaction, law enforcement can decide whether or not they need to dispatch a crew, or if the situation can be handled from afar.

“Our company saw this as our way to do our small part in offering up technology to help first responders on the front lines,” said Bennett.

The app launched just weeks ago, and is already picking up momentum across the country.

Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to a number of local agencies to hear their reaction to the app, but has not yet heard back.

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