Anyone with a University email address and smartphone can download a safety app that creates a virtual safety net of friends, family and University Police.
The Student Government Association began offering the customized version of the Rave Guardian Campus Safety App earlier this year.
Here鈥檚 how it works:
A user downloads the web-based app onto his or her smartphone and creates a profile that includes pertinent personal information, such as his name, address, any medical conditions and ID photo. He can also create a list of 鈥済uardians鈥 who would be notified under certain circumstances. The guardian must also have the app on his smartphone. A generic version is free and can be used with any email address.
鈥淪ay you鈥檙e going out on a date with a guy for the first time. You want to let someone know who you are going out with, where you are going, and what time you expect to be back,鈥 said University Police Capt. Charles Gisclair.
鈥淵ou would use the app to record that information. Suppose you plan to be home by midnight. If you don鈥檛 deactivate the timer by 12 o鈥檆lock, the app will automatically notify the designated guardian.
鈥淭he first thing the guardian would do would be to call you to see if you鈥檙e okay. If you can鈥檛 be reached, the app enables the guardian to immediately notify University Police that you鈥檙e not back home yet. That notification can be sent regardless of whether you designated University Police as a guardian.鈥
The University Police dispatcher on campus receives the notification. 鈥淏ecause this is web-based software, we can also receive the notification in our patrol units, where we have wi-fi access,鈥 Gisclair continued.
鈥淭he only time University Police would have access to the user鈥檚 personal profile would be when the notification is activated. It gives us the user鈥檚 info. And, as long as the user鈥檚 smartphone GPS is operating, the app will ping that phone and show us where it鈥檚 located.鈥
Officers can then investigate the situation to determine if the user is in trouble. There鈥檚 a feature that minimizes the number of notifications that might be sent because the user simply forgets to deactivate the timer when he reaches his intended destination.
Use of the app isn鈥檛 limited to campus. It works across the United States but not in other countries.
The Rave Guardian app can be downloaded from the Apple Store. During registration, the user is able to indicate whether he is affiliated with a university.