Critical information. A clearer next step.

Home is one part of your day. Work, family and travel can place you near other jurisdictions when a safety alert matters. Lucas lets residents follow more than one vetted participating department through one free citizen app, with each issuer identified.

Participation and available features vary by agency. A place appearing in our community directory does not mean its department is using Lucas.

A short notification can bring a matter to your attention. The detail behind it helps you decide whether it is relevant: which department is asking, what happened, which place is involved, and what information could help. Lucas brings that public information into a dedicated citizen experience instead of asking every message to explain the entire situation on a lock screen.

A useful connection runs in both directions. Where reporting is active, a resident can respond with a factual observation rather than a public comment thread. The selected agency receives the information through its own workflow; it decides what to do next.

Imagine reading a public request from a department near your workplace, then noticing something relevant while visiting family elsewhere. The information may still matter to the department that issued the request. Check the recipient and the available reporting feature rather than assuming your present city determines every useful connection.

That is the idea behind Lucas and Sentinel: a public experience that can span places, supported by distinct agency workspaces. Its usefulness grows through relevant participation, not through collecting a continuous account of everyone’s movements. Read the privacy policy before choosing permissions or sharing personal information.

Lucas supports tips connected to an agency update and standalone tips directed to a selected participating agency, where that reporting capability is active.

A submission can include the information and attachments the feature permits. Your visibility choice affects routine access to some account details; it does not make a tip anonymous.

Lucas is a communication platform, not an emergency dispatch service. Alert delivery and agency review are not guaranteed. If someone is in immediate danger or an urgent response is needed, call 911.

Confirm the department and the current app availability. Then review which sources are useful to you and what the reporting feature supports. A small amount of preparation makes the experience more useful: you know where an update comes from and where your information would go.

If you are preparing to use the service, read its published age and eligibility terms as well as the current app information. Availability and appropriate use are separate questions.

You might live in one city, work in another and help a family member somewhere else. Those places can have different police service providers. Following an agency keeps its updates available in the same app without making every update a message from every department.

Start with the places you actually need to hear about. Check the department’s identity, confirm that it participates and review your choices when your routine changes. A long list of sources is less useful than a few sources whose role you understand. Keep the city or county’s official warning subscriptions as well; following an agency in Lucas is a separate choice.

The same distinction matters when you share information. A request may concern a place you have left, but your observation could still be relevant. Read the request again and check the intended recipient. A useful account explains the connection rather than leaving a reviewer to infer why the information was sent.

An alert on a lock screen has limited room. Open the department’s update to understand the affected place, the time of publication and the requested action. If the situation has changed, a later correction matters more than a screenshot of the original message.

For example, a fictional notice about a safety perimeter could name the section that is closed and the point where drivers should turn away. Someone who knows the neighborhood and someone visiting for the first time should both be able to understand it. FEMA’s warning-message guidance emphasizes location, time, source and protective action; those are useful questions to bring to any public notice.

Not every update asks for a tip. Some simply provide information. If a request does invite observations, share what you know through the supported route. A public request is not an instruction to approach a person, enter property or look for evidence.

Source: FEMA: components of an alert and warning

Read your account as if you were receiving it for the first time. Include the place and approximate time, explain what you personally observed and distinguish it from what someone else told you. Say when you are uncertain. If an attachment is relevant, use an option supported by the current feature and keep the original file.

Check what the submission itself reveals. A photo can contain a face, address or reflection; a detailed account can identify its author even when some profile fields have limited visibility. The privacy setting and the information in the tip need separate consideration.

Lucas helps organize a connection between people and participating agencies. The agency decides how it reviews the information it receives. For urgent assistance, use emergency services rather than waiting for a tip to be seen.

Source: FBI: providing useful information in a tip · Lucas Privacy Policy, effective September 14, 2026