Report the incident.
A victim or witness provides the incident type, date, time and location, describes what they observed and adds available images or video.
The service
From one incident.
To the people who can help.
We-Watch was developed to connect an incident with people who may hold useful information—and give their contributions a shared destination.
Now discussing tailored deployments. Operational restoration and validation are required before launch.
Review and request.
Administrator or moderator approval initiates outreach to relevant participants. The service can connect incidents with saved places such as a home or business; historical presence matching is part of the broader product design and is confirmed by deployment.
Contribute to the same incident.
Participants choose whether they have useful information to share. Their accounts and media are associated with the incident rather than scattered across separate conversations.
Support victim and police follow-up.
The intended service gives victims and police access to the consolidated report and routes jurisdiction-relevant incidents to local police by email. Recipient arrangements and access controls are established during deployment.
Explore the service model
Follow one incident.
See how the pieces connect.
A fictional example shows the intended workflow, from an initial account to a local police handoff.
Move through the workflow
Illustrative jurisdictions, not a list of participating police services.
Illustration · no submissionSTEP 01 / 05
01 / Report
Start with what happened.
A business owner records damage to a storefront, its location and a time window. A short account and available photos give the incident a starting point.
Storefront damageAwaiting review
- Initial accountIncident details and available photosREPORT
Intended police recipient
Toronto Police ServiceEmail handoff requires an agreed recipient and process before deployment. Nothing is sent by this illustration.
The model includes a unique incident report URL and a shared record of accounts and media. Victims and police are the intended report viewers; witnesses contribute without viewing the full report. Matching rules, permissions and delivery must be configured and validated for each deployment.
Questions worth answering
Clear expectations build participation.
Who receives a request?
Participants selected through the deployment’s location and incident rules. Saved locations can connect people with places that matter to them. The radius, time window and eligible incident types are agreed for the deployment.
Can witnesses see the full incident report?
The intended consolidated-report model reserves viewing for victims and police; witnesses contribute information. Moderator review is a separate operational role. The exact permissions are confirmed and tested before a deployment goes live.
Can contributors remain anonymous?
The service includes an option to contribute without displaying a name. That is different from being unidentifiable to the service operator. The deployment’s privacy notice must explain operator access, authorized disclosure and what media itself may reveal.
Does a submission replace contacting police?
Do not assume that a submission creates an official police report or triggers attendance. Follow the participating police service’s reporting instructions. For an emergency or immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Does this replace public appeals and canvassing?
The aim is to reduce the effort involved in finding contributors. Public appeals and manual canvassing may still be useful, particularly where network participation is limited.
The historical draft user guide sets out a sequence: choose a victim or witness path, record the incident, add supporting material and review the summary.
Time, place and context.
Describe where and when the incident happened, even when preparing the contribution somewhere else.
What was observed.
Connect a first-hand account to the event. Distinguish direct observations from assumptions or information received from someone else.
Media with context.
The guide includes dashcam, mobile-phone and building-security video. How originals, provenance, retention and disclosure are handled belongs in deployment design.
Source: historical draft We-Watch User Instructions, WW UG 001. Current screens and behaviour require validation.
Read the participation and access expectationsBuild a better way to gather incident information.
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