Clay Sheriff Launches Free App

The Clay County Sheriff’s Department has launched a free app designed to help the department communicate with the public.

Sheriff Brandon Boone said the app allows people to see who is incarcerated in the local jail, a map of all registered sex offenders, and messages from the sheriff’s department. Boone said the app also allows users to submit anonymous tips to the department.

“People have always got their phones with them, always checking different social media platforms on their phone,” Boone said. “And this is just another one of those avenues that people can look at and it’s, with the touch of a finger you can see what’s going on within our community.”

Boone said the app can be used to notify domestic violence victims when the perpetrator is released via a call, text, or email. Boone said that feature will also help his department by ensuring those victims have an automated, reliable way to get that information in time.

“Our dispatchers are also corrections officers so they have dual roles,” Boone said. “And sometimes within their prospective day of doing their duties it’s hard to remember every single thing they’re supposed to do once an inmate’s released. And notifying a victim sometimes can slip through the cracks, which we’re required to do. And if they’re signed up on this app and told about it then it sort of relieves us of that.”

Boone said the app also has information about the school resource officers assigned to each school in the county. Boone said the app is available on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store.

“You just want to make sure it’s the Tennessee Clay County Sheriff’s Office because there’s other Clay Counties throughout our nation in other states,” Boone said. “Obviously it will have our information on there. It’ll have a picture of a patrol car.”

Boone said the department can use the messaging function to share information about upcoming events or ongoing incidents, such as car wrecks, with the public. Boone said the county tried to set up this app a couple years ago but there some technical issues on the county’s end that prevented it.