Onboarding needs attention.
The programme used storefront outreach, member communications and follow-up. A community network needs active recruitment and a clear reason to return.
Historical pilot / Toronto
Built through community use.
Improved through experience.
The West Queen West BIA pilot provided a practical setting to explore incident reporting, member participation and local information gathering.
159Unique accounts reported
30Incident reports in the pilot summary
Source: We-Watch’s pilot summary dated 18 March 2024, which records the client partnership beginning 23 May 2023. Figures are company reported.
These are historical participation figures. They do not establish crime reduction, cost savings, police adoption or case-resolution outcomes.
Current deployment availability requires confirmation.
What the pilot made clear
Participation is part of the product.
Reliability affects engagement.
The summary records usability and notification issues that influenced participation. Restoration and acceptance testing are essential to a credible new deployment.
Local context changes the design.
The BIA approach moved toward saved home and business locations. Matching should suit the community, participant expectations and the incident types involved.
The next stage
A stronger pilot asks sharper questions.
How many requests produce useful information? How quickly does it arrive? How much staff time does it take to review? Do participating organizations want to continue?
Those questions guide our discussions with deployment and commercialization partners. Supporting historical materials can be discussed as part of a qualified enquiry.
The screenshot above is historical. Current functionality and deployment scope require confirmation.
Business concerns were reaching the BIA through separate messages and conversations. The pilot explored a common reporting channel.
The work included storefront visits, BIA email and social outreach, printed information, follow-up and individual support. Getting people to contribute was as much a part of the test as the software.
“The solution offered through We-Watch enables our BIA to track incidents and build intelligence about our community.”
The letter also describes the challenge of changing reporting habits. It is a partner perspective, not an independent outcome evaluation or statement of current service availability.
Client partnership begins.
Date recorded in the company’s pilot summary.
A partner perspective.
A letter describes the reporting opportunity and member-engagement challenges.
The pilot summary.
Company-reported activity, outreach, product issues and development priorities.
PUBLIC PROJECT RECORD
Mitacs: customer insights and service development
Describes We-Watch’s first pilot with West Queen West BIA and lists York University and the Business Strategy Internship programme. It supports the project context, not validation of the reported results.
Public sources checked 6 October 2026. Original private documents and identifying screenshots are not published here. The pilot’s category table is not reproduced because it does not reconcile with the headline report total.
Put the next deployment on a measurable footing.
Start with a specific community, a clear information need and an agreed definition of success.