Blackboard’s new campus security app is a one-stop game-changer
In a world where school shootings have become a common – appearing in headlines almost every other week – university officials are increasingly dependent on students, in addition to security cameras and police, to report suspicious activity and crime on campus.
Blackboard Transact, the campus security division of the popular education technology company, Blackboard, known for its content management software, announced on April 15 a new partnership with LiveSafe, which produces a mobile safety application for Android and iOS.
According to Jenny Abramson, CEO and president of LiveSafe, the application has had success by providing students with a platform to communicate about campus safety issues without disrupting their day-to-day lives.
“I think people will help prevent issues if they are able to do it with things they are already using,” Abramson said. “LiveSafe provides a path for students to be communicated with in a way they like to communicate.”
LiveSafe allows students to communicate with campus safety officials, report crime incidents to other students and receive real time updates about everything from poor road conditions to school shootings.
(Next page: Security app features)
According to Abramson, LiveSafe has never had problems with the quality or usefulness of their mobile application, but with how quickly they can get schools to adopt their product with a limited marketing budget. With Blackboard’s range at their disposal, Abramson believes LiveSafe will be able to reach more schools than ever before.
“Safety is fundamental to ensuring a positive teaching and learning environment in order to achieve meaningful learning outcomes,” said David Marr, senior vice president of Blackboard Transact.
Blackboard Transact already provides a wide range of safety tools to campuses nationwide, including one card access, which allows students to access buildings, pay for meals and pay for laundry facilities, all while keeping themselves and their personal information safe.
With the addition of LiveSafe campuses may be able to stay ahead of crime before it becomes a problem, through features such as the crime map, which highlights high crime areas students are able to avoid problem areas of campus where crime is more likely to occur.
Allison Duquette, vice president for Blackboard Transact, said a partnership with LiveSafe, will help bring more proactive solutions to campus crime problems in addition to the security measures such as access control, including door locks and student identification cards, and security cameras already offered by the company.
“At the end of the day, door locks and cameras only solve part of the problem,” Duquette said. “From the moment I saw the Live Safe product I thought it was exactly what we needed. It lets kids keep safe in a way that they are comfortable with.”
Abramson and Duquette both know students are less likely to report a crime incident or warn faculty about another student’s dangerous behavior if they have to become directly involved. According to Abramson, students are most comfortable using the application to send crime and non-emergency tips to campus safety, rather than dialing 911 or the campus safety number.
“The unique needs of a student on campuses are different than security in general.” Duquette said. “If students are not going to reach out to their parents they are not going to want to put themselves into a dangerous situation. This is a way to get students to talk to someone who can proactively reach in and do something proactive.”
Peter Sclafani is an editorial intern with eCampus News
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