Privacy

PSAware Mobile Application

This section applies to the PSAware mobile application for Android and iOS. PSAware is issued to personnel by a law enforcement or public safety agency that subscribes to Southern Software services. The subscribing agency determines what is collected and how it is used; Southern Software processes that data on the agency’s behalf.

Location information

• What is collected. GPS-derived precise location, and approximate location derived from network sources.
• When. Continuously while the user has Location Reporting turned on in the app, including in the background when the app is closed or not in use. When Location Reporting is off, the app does not collect or transmit location.
• Why. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL). Location is reported to the employing agency’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system so that dispatchers can see the position of responding units during an incident. A unit whose position is stale or absent cannot be dispatched safely, which is why collection continues while the app is in the background.
• Who receives it. The employing agency’s own CAD system. Location is not sold, not shared with third parties, and not used for advertising, marketing, or tracking.
• User control. Location Reporting is user-controlled and can be turned off at any time from within the app. While reporting is active the app displays a persistent notification. Operating system location permissions may also be revoked at any time through device settings.
• Disclosure. Before requesting background location permission, the app displays an in-app disclosure explaining that location is accessed while the app is closed, and why.

Other information collected

• User identifiers — the username under which personnel sign in, used to authenticate the user and attribute activity to the correct unit.
• Device identifiers — an identifier for the installed application instance, used to register the device with the agency, deliver notifications, and secure the session. This is not an advertising identifier; PSAware does not access, collect, or use the Android Advertising ID or Apple’s IDFA.
• App activity — in-app interactions, used to operate the application and to understand feature usage and reliability in aggregate.

How information is used and shared

Information collected by PSAware is used to operate the application and to deliver the agency’s dispatch and notification services. Southern Software does not sell personal information, does not share it with third parties for their own purposes, and does not use it for advertising, marketing, or cross-app tracking.

Information is transmitted to the subscribing agency’s systems and to service providers acting on Southern Software’s instructions, including Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, which is used solely to deliver push notifications to the device.

Security

All data collected by the application is encrypted in transit. Credentials and session material are held in the platform secure store — the Android Keystore or the iOS Keychain — and, where the agency enables it, are protected by device biometric or passcode authentication.

Retention and deletion

Location and activity records transmitted to an agency’s CAD system are retained by that agency under its own records retention policy and applicable public records law. Because these records belong to the employing agency, Southern Software cannot delete them at the request of an individual user. Personnel who wish to have their data reviewed or removed should contact their agency administrator, who can make that request to Southern Software.

Uninstalling the application stops all further collection from that device.

Children

PSAware is a workforce application issued to agency personnel. It is not directed to children and is not made available to users under 13.

Contact

Questions about this section may be directed to Southern Software, Inc. at southernsoftware.com.