Santiago Villegas

"For a city like Medellín, which is included every year on the classification of most violent cities in the world, every little helps to break free from the scourge of shootings, kidnappings and drug trafficking which have affected its people for decades Convinced that information technology can provide channels of participation that gradually turn cities like this into safer places to live, the young computer technician Santiago Villegas has created a simple and fast system that citizens can use to report any street crime.

Seguridadenlínea.com is a tool for mobile devices which enables georeferenced information to be uploaded onto the net in real time and robberies, accidents or damage to be reported. It also allows photos and videos to be added and there is an option for people to make the information public so that other citizens can add more details, comments or warnings. This way, it becomes a social network which includes all citizens and whose purpose is to prevent and react to incidents of insecurity.

The tool is already used by the municipality of Medellín as part of its strategy against insecurity and, in the three months that it has been operational, it has recorded more than 2,000 reports and received more than 20,000 visits every month. After receiving this important support from the Municipal Government of Medellín, this innovative young man is presently leading a team of four specialists dedicated to maintaining and improving the application.

Santiago has also created a number of other tools such as Urbanismoenlinea.com, where citizens are able to report any damage to city infrastructure, the Ciudadenlinea.com project for georeferencing places of interest, which indicates to its users the status or safety of streets or availability of public transport; and Transporteenlinea.com which is used to provide information about nearby metro and bus stations."