About Community Lookout
Community Lookout is a people-first, open web app that helps residents feel safe, secure, and respected in their community. Our goal is to provide a simple, privacy-respecting way to record what you saw, when, and where—so patterns can be spotted and shared with neighbors or authorities when appropriate.
What this is
A community safety and transparency tool.
Neighbors use their phones to capture public, in-view license plates and log when and roughly where vehicles are seen.
The software turns those sightings into patterns (frequency over time, zones visited) so communities can notice unusual activity, share awareness, and protect vulnerable neighbors.
We hope that as we expand, so will our ability to provide a sense of safety and privacy to the community.
What this is not
- Not vigilantism. We observe and document; we don’t confront, chase, or interfere. For emergencies, call 911.
- Not anti-police. We’re pro-accountability and pro-community. Good policing and transparency go hand-in-hand.
- Not doxxing. No posting private home addresses, personal info, or faces. No harassment.
- Not mass surveillance. We collect only what’s publicly visible, for limited time, with strong privacy protections.
- Not a data broker. We don’t sell data. Period.
Why we built it
Because safety improves when ordinary people have trustworthy information. Families deserve advance awareness of unusual patterns on their block; organizers need evidence to advocate for better policies; bystanders deserve clarity, not rumors. This tool turns many small, safe contributions into a shared, privacy-respecting neighborhood memory that helps everyone make informed choices.
Privacy & data handling
- Location: Taken from EXIF GPS when available; otherwise you choose device location or manual entry. You can review before saving.
- Images: You can opt out of storing the uploaded photo.
- Access: Data lives on our VPS. We don’t sell or share data with ad networks.
- Retention: You control your submissions; we’ll publish clear retention defaults as the project grows.
Accuracy & human review
OCR can make mistakes. That’s why each sighting supports manual correction. Treat plate text as a lead, not proof. When possible, verify against the original image and context.
- Confidence scores are recorded
- Manual correction pathway is always available
- We’ll continue tuning models and pre-/post-processing
Community guidelines
- Be respectful, factual, and avoid speculation.
- Only upload images you have the right to share.
- Do not harass individuals or post sensitive personal info.
- Follow your local laws for recording and sharing.
Roadmap
- Interactive map view
- Per-neighborhood feeds and subscriptions
- Improved OCR for regional plate patterns
- Admin tools: redaction, takedown workflow
Contact
Questions, suggestions, or want to contribute? Reach out at contact@communitylookout.com or open an issue on our repository.
Hosting & domain provided by free-speech-friendly providers. If you find a bug or a privacy concern, please let us know.