SP transforms the citizen’s cell phone into a radar against stolen cars; here’s how to use the new app

The City Hall of São Paulo launched, on Tuesday (23), the Smart Sampa Cidadão, an application that allows the population to collaborate in the identification of stolen, stolen, cloned or other restricted vehicles through the cell phone camera. Free and available for Android and iOS, the tool expands the performance of Smart Sampa, the largest video surveillance system in Latin America, which assists security forces in the capital.

The application uses the same Automatic License Plate Reading (LPR) technology employed by the program’s smart cameras. After registering and logging in, the user points the smartphone camera at the vehicle’s license plate, and the system automatically consults the integrated databases.

When a restriction is identified, the information is forwarded for analysis by the Smart Sampa Center and, after validation by the technical teams, the security forces are activated. The City Hall states that the user does not receive details of the occurrence nor does his identity be exposed to the teams or people involved during the process.

Currently, Smart Sampa brings together about 50 thousand smart cameras — 20 thousand owned and 30 thousand integrated from public and private partners — of which about 3 thousand have automatic license plate reading — technology that has already supported the Metropolitan Civil Guard in more than 3 thousand occurrences with irregular vehicles. Since its implementation, according to the City Hall, the program has contributed to more than 5,800 arrests in flagrante delicto, the capture of 3,200 fugitives from justice and the location of 228 missing people.

The most recent numbers involve motorcycles: between September 2025 and May 2026, the integrated action of security forces led to the seizure of 2,308 motorcycles with irregularities — 864 for tampering with identification, 701 for theft and 659 for robbery — in addition to the arrest of 279 people.

The expectation of the municipal management is that popular participation, by transforming millions of cell phones into checkpoints, will expand the capacity to locate vehicles with restrictions and reinforce police work. “Each citizen who downloads the application becomes part of a protection network that already shows significant results and that now gains even more reach,” said the municipal secretary of Urban Security, Juliana Bussacos.