An Garda Síochána’s Property App

On the 20 September 2022 Garda Commissioner Drew Harris launched An Garda Síochána Property App.  

The Garda Property App was developed by An Garda Síochána as part of An Garda Síochána’s Crime Prevention and Reduction Strategy. The App’s function is to assist and encourage members of the public to record their property details on their own smartphone that can be retrieved and passed onto Gardaí should the owner of the property wish to report it as stolen. 

It is available via Android and IOS platforms, or the Garda Website via the following url:

https://garda.ie/en/angardasiochanaapp/angardasiochanapropertyapp.html 

The An Garda Síochána Property App is a newly developed mobile app that allows the public to index and record their personal property, for example, bicycles, laptops, farm machinery etc. An Garda Síochána has for years been encouraging people to clearly mark their property and make a record of it. Property that is clearly and obviously marked is less attractive to a thief as it is more difficult to sell on. The app will enable the member of the public to take photographs, record receipts, store registration codes, photographs the property markings. 

The app is designed as completely standalone. It can be downloaded for free on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store. It can also be downloaded from the Garda website. Once downloaded, you can safely record your personal information in the app and then begin to record your property. Any information entered into the app is then either stored locally on the device, or backed up to your cloud account – whichever is your preference – thus leaving you in charge of your own data at all times. An Garda Síochána recommends you make a regular backup as the onus is on you as owner of your data within the app. No data will be stored by An Garda Síochána. 

In the situation where the user has their property stolen, the app also has the facility to report the theft to An Garda Síochána. This feature allows the user to select the item(s) that was stolen and easily and securely report the theft to An Garda Síochána. This is a similar process to that of the Declaration of Theft of Property process on the Garda Website. The benefit of having all of the records on their App is that an Investigating Garda will have access to better and more detailed information on the stolen property, such as serial numbers, receipts, images of the stolen items all of which will assist with the investigation. If stolen property is recovered by An Garda Síochána, it is more easily returned to its rightful owner provided a record is kept of identifiable information.