I found my stolen Honda Civic using a Bluetooth tracker. It's the latest controversial weapon against theft.

Inspired by successful public health messaging campaigns of the past, the U.S.-based nonprofit Project Unloaded is using a bottom-up approach to promote gun violence prevention among young people. The nonprofit is working with highschoolers to develop social media messaging campaigns debunking the common misconception that owning a gun makes you safer.

Members of the A’i Kofán de Sinangoe Indigenous guard keep watch over the part of the Amazon rainforest their community resides in. With the help of technological tools like drones and camera traps, they are able to prevent invasions and illegal activity on their land — which often goes hand-in-hand with preventing deforestation and pollution.

The AFF Flagit app allows Nigerians to report crimes directly to federal agencies and the police to make the process easier, faster, and more effective. App users can choose to remain anonymous and submit any evidence they have with the report.

Project 529 is a bike registration service available in Canada and the U.S. that helps address the issue of bike theft. In Vancouver, where the project began, bike theft has been lowered by 44% and the Project 529 system has even been adopted by police departments in British Columbia to help manage theft in cities like Victoria.

In 71 cities around the world, users of the My Safetipin mobile app can decide whether to visit a particular neighborhood or plan a travel route based on how safe others deem those places. While the 100,000 or so users, more than half in India, constitute too small a user base to make the mapping app truly universal, its crowdsourced data already have prompted the Delhi and Bogota governments to improve street lighting on streets deemed unsafe because they are not well lit. The app's primary goal is to make the streets safer for women.

The Egyptian Facebook group Qawem (Arabic for resist) helps victims of sextortion by turning threats around to target the attacker. Sextortion, in which threatened disclosure of a person's nude or other embarrassing photos are used as a tool of extortion, is illegal in Egypt. But women – the typical victims – are often reluctant to report incidents to the police, out of shame or fear. When victims report sextortion attempts to Qawem, volunteers counsel the victims while other volunteers track down the extortionists and threaten to expose them to their family or friends. About 200 cases per week get resolved.

The Chicago Stolen Car Directory is a Facebook group that helps people find their stolen cars and makes the police aware of abandoned cars that may have been stolen. The recently formed group, with 14,400 members, has helped recover more than 200 cars at a time when auto theft and carjackings in Chicago have risen substantially. While the group's effect on the crime rate is unknown, it has encouraged more aggressive enforcement efforts while reuniting people with their property.

By establishing online platforms to make anonymous reports of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, two Canadian organizations elicited hundreds of stories that help victims to process their experiences. The first platform, Elimin8hate, was the creation of a filmmaker who understands the therapeutic value of storytelling as means of coping with trauma. Her Vancouver group's alliance with a Toronto organization attracted funding to train discussion leaders who will lead anti-racism discussions in government and businesses.

A free mobile app, Safe House, gives victims of domestic abuse a simple and quick way to call for help and find needed resources in four states. Putting local crisis helplines, shelters, and other local resources in one place saves time when an abuse victim is racing to get to safety. The app, downloaded more than 3,000 times since its launch less than two years ago, currently covers resources in Maine, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Its developer plans to expand to more states.

Fearful and distrustful of corrupt and abusive police forces, Nigerians by the thousands have downloaded locally developed mobile apps like Sety and Aabo to call friends for help during abductions or other emergencies. These first-responder apps feature panic buttons that alert contacts or people nearby during an emergency. The app makers do not share usage data, but users say they feel safer by having such apps available if they are harassed by the police or in need of protection from an attack.