Big Easy Button: App Fights Crime in New Orleans

Crime in New Orleans' storied French Quarter plummeted in the three months after an app that's been described as "Uber for cops" launched, NBC News reports.

The French Quarter Task Force app lets users report crime and quality-of-life problems to off-duty officers armed with iPads in souped-up golf carts.

"We're the beat cop of the 21st century," said Bob Simms, who has been running day-to-day operations since the program launched in March.

Crimes against people in the historic district plummeted 35 percent and property crimes were down 10 percent just three months into the private-public initiative that was initially financed by the city's fed-up trash king.

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