ELMIRA, NY (WENY) -- The Chemung County Sheriff's Office launched a mobile app, aimed to help the community be informed and stay safe. 

Chemung County Sheriff Bill Schrom made the formal announcement of the app's launch Thursday morning, discussing some of its features. 

"It's an opportunity for the community to interact with the resources of the sheriff's office and the services that we provide," Sheriff Schrom explained. 

Among other things, users can access resources within the Sheriff's Office, see inmate information, receive emergency alerts, or even learn about job openings within the department. 

"The app will allow us to do push notifications, so if there’s any emergency situations we can send out an alert to anybody that has the app and it will come up on your smartphone," explained Chemung County Undersheriff Douglas Houper. "You can submit tips, right through the app now. It can be anonymous, or if you’d like to let us know who you are so we can contact you, you can do that."

Undersheriff Houper said there's a large interest across the state to see who is currently incarcerated in county jails. The app keeps active roster. Users can also sign up for alerts through VINE, a notification system which notifies victims of an accused offender's custody status. 

"The number one reason [people use the app] is for the correctional facility. The biggest thing around the state for the sheriff’s office is who’s in jail. They look up who’s in jail all the time. You get almost live-time book in and book outs from the jail, so you’’ll know who’s in jail, why they’re in there," said Houper.

People whose loved ones are currently held in the jail can put money on the inmate's commissary, and even find a link to pay bail.

App users can also see a map of registered sex offenders in the county, as well as submit tips directly to the sheriff's office - including video. It's something Sheriff Schrom says is a useful feature in an advancing digital age.

"Of course everybody, they see anything, people are always on their phones, they record it, report on it, do whatever, that information is hugely valuable to law enforcement during the investigative process," Schrom said. 

The app was developed by TheSheriffApp.com - a developer subsidiary of OCV, LLC. The company creates custom mobile apps for law enforcement and public safety organizations across the country. Along with the Chemung County Sheriff's Office, 21 other county sheriff's offices use the platform for their app development, including Steuben and Yates counties. Schrom said no taxpayer funding was used for the app. 

"I can tell you there is no taxpayer money for this. We have funds through what's called commissary, inmate account funds, and since this is a product that can directly benefit the inmates we can use those funds for this, so there is no taxpayer money, it is offset that way," he said. 

The app,  named Chemung County Sheriff NY, is available for free in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.