The Citizen App Will Now Tell You Why Helicopters Are Making a Racket in Your Neighborhood

There are many reasons why a helicopter might be cruising around your neighborhood. It could be ferrying someone to a hospital; or it could be searching for a missing person or suspect in a crime. A pilot could simply be in the middle of a training session.

Now, the Citizen app will help you solve the mystery. According to The Verge, Citizen has employees monitoring data from 911 calls every hour of every day, and they’re now expanding that offering to include updates from police helicopters, too. You can also post comments about (or footage of) the chopper action so nearby folks can see what all the fuss is about. User posts are vetted by Citizen, so it’s slightly more reliable than searching for answers on social media.

Since Citizen already hosts information about police-related incidents and other emergencies, it’s possible that the app will already have an entry with details about whatever the helicopter happens to be investigating. If that’s the case, it’ll list it as a “related incident.”

And even if you don’t harbor any burning curiosities about helicopters, the app’s citizen-based reporting makes it a useful tool for discovering what else is going on in your neighborhood, from power outages and car accidents to basically anything else out of the norm. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can download the app via Apple or Google Play.