Social Network 2? Two UCSC Grads Make Networking App for Santa Cruz Police

Kushyar Kasraie and Jamieson Johnson began their Internet startup in much the same was as Mark Zuckerberg began his: as something to unite college campuses.

But if there is ever a movie made about these two UCSC grads, they will have to find actors to play Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel and department spokesman Zach Friend.

The new company, EZ Axess,  has created the first iPhone app to link the inside of the police department to smart phone users and to allow the community to listen in on police calls, to alert police when they see a crime, to watch department videos and map crimes in their neighborhood as well as to get messages directly from Police Chief Kevin Vogel.

"This mobile application will give our community a remarkable amount of information in the palm of their hand," Vogel said. "It is an essential step toward ensuring greater access to our department. This easy-to-use interface will provide an unprecedented amount of information to the consumer, regardless of where they are in the world." 

Kasraie, 24, from Iran and Jamieson, 23, from Canada met as business management students. Their first draft for  EZ Axess was for a  2009 UCSC Business Plan Competition, in which they were finalists.

Kasraie was commuting to school from Sunnyvale, where he lived while working as an engineer at NASA. He moved to the U.S. when he was 17. Jamieson was at the school for the swim program. An eight-time All American, he says he wanted to practice in a place with an expansive view that let him look at the ocean from the swimming pool.

Their business plan included designing and selling to colleges a system that would let students use their phones to track sports events, class schedules, campus activities and with recent college tragedies in mind, emergencies. Colleges pay a yearly subcription for the service.

So far, the 10-person company is on 10 campuses, including UC Berkeley, San Diego State and the University of Maryland. 

"This is really the way that people in our generation get information," said Karsraie. "From their phones."

When public information officer and crime statistician Zach Friend read about the service, he thought it could work for the Santa Cruz Police Department. He called the graduates and proposed it and the police brass were enthusiastic about the possibilities. He didn't realize they were UCSC grads, but it helped seal the deal.

Deputy Chief Rick Martinez said the department looks forward to having the public contact it more as a result of things they hear and see on this app.

"That level of interest really solves crimes for us."

An Android app is coming and for now, Android users can get the same information at m.santacruzpolice.com. The application is available at iTunes and the Apple store for free.

The developers spent three months perfecting the police app and plan to market it to other law enforcement agencies. They wouldn't reveal the price and are still trying to figure out a price point for other agencies. It was paid for as part of a 2010 federal equipment grant given to Santa Cruz and the grads gave Santa Cruz a break as a pilot program.

 "We believe that applications like this build bridges between the community and their local government," said Kasraie, the CEO. "We are excited to play a role in connecting Santa Cruz with their police department and assuring there are no barriers to access of information. "