RETiO: an app to fight against corruption in Mexico

The evolution of an idea

What started three years ago as just a Twitter account that alerted citizens of checkpoints in Federal District, Mexico City, has now evolved into an App for cell phones.

Behind this idea are Mario Romero Zavala and Jose Antonio Bolio, both whom never imagined how this would change the behavior of their followers.

This idea began as a need to protect citizens from police officers, who would often abuse their authority at checkpoints.

This system was created for several states in Mexico, which Baja California has a site that has more than 100,000 visitors per month, and as far as the app, it was introduced back in February for download and has maintained as one of the most downloaded apps in the market.

Due to the current state that the country finds itself in, RETiO also offers alerts of gun shootings, and alerts of areas where criminal groups have placed a road block, which now to a great surprise to everyone, police officers are also using this app to respond to alerts that citizens have reported.

Some basic tools that were used to create the program are systems that were already in place like Google Maps and Twitter.

In order to get the most up-to-date reports, users must indicate their current location both on the website and on the app of this program.

In an interview with Techcrunch, Zavala and Bolio stated that this was also a tool that shows a big picture of the real life of Mexican citizens, and highlighted the response that this program has received in order to improve the environment that everyone lives in.

Although it has been difficult for Zavala and Bolio to raise the necessary funds for this app, they both hope to expand this app beyond Mexico and are currently working to improve their system.

Brenda.Colon@sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com

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