Mobile phone alerts sent to Everton fans by Rhys detectives

Nov 5 2007 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERTON fans at Saturday’s game with Birmingham City were the latest to receive messages on their mobile phones from Merseyside police appealing for information about the shooting of Rhys Jones.

Merseyside is the first force in the country to use a device which transmits Bluetooth messages to all Bluetooth-enabled phones within a 100m radius at a rate of 21 messages every four seconds.

The new mobile phone technology has already been used by detectives in the Croxteth Park area, where Rhys lived, to help trace potentially vital wit- nesses. It works by means of a trans- mitter based in a police car.

Eleven-year-old Rhys, who was fatally shot in the car park of the Fir Tree pub on August 22, was a passionate Everton supporter.