THOUSANDS of people have signed up to a police messaging service to combat rural crime.

The free North Yorkshire Community Messaging system lets people register to receive the latest crime notifications and community news in their neighbourhoods.

Now a new app, available for iOS and Android devices, takes advantage of geolocation technology, allowing users to receive important alerts wherever they are in North Yorkshire.

More than 15,000 people are already signed up to receive alerts.

In the last four months alone, 832 messages have been sent out to the public, businesses, and Rural and Neighbourhood Watch groups across York and North Yorkshire.

As North Yorkshire Police is geographically England's largest single county force, the community messaging system is the biggest of its kind in the country.

Geolocation is a particularly useful tool in rural areas, where alerts can be shared to an audience across a wide area very quickly.

Members of the public can choose to receive messages via email, text message, social media or voice call – direct to their smartphones and tablets.

They can also receive alerts based on their current geographical location – crucial for avoiding road closures, helping to find missing people and even staying safe during a large-scale emergency.

Assistant chief constable Lisa Winward said: "We want to be the most responsive police service in England, and our new community messaging app is a great way to help us achieve that.

Neighbourhood Policing Teams were already using community messaging to raise awareness of recent crime trends and inform the public about upcoming crime prevention operations.

"The new app opens up new possibilities for us to use notifications and geolocation technology to make the system even more effective."

Ms Winward added: "The information and intelligence that we receive from community messaging users is crucial in preventing and detecting crime and anti-social behaviour."

The new app is available by searching for "North Yorkshire Community Messaging" on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and Google Play for Android devices.