security-campus-apps

10 Apple and Android Apps for campus security


These 10 campus safety apps cover a broad range that could be tailored for most institutions

security-campus-apps
Copyright: Twin Design/Shutterstock

Integrating campus security and technology, smartphone apps make campus safety more convenient. From GPS locators to social media monitoring, these cost-effective opportunities can improve existing systems for higher education faculty, staff and students.

[Listed in alphabetical order]

1. Campus Safe iPhone/iPad, Android, As low as $1 per user, per year

Campus Safe allows institutions to customize campus safety apps to fit their school specifications. Users can easily access campus safety and emergency contact numbers, important campus safety websites, and crime prevent information. This apps can also link and display safety tweets. Campus Safety integrates with a school’s existing IT system, connecting users to their university accounts. Calls to emergency dispatchers are integrated with Google Voice,and offer options for hearing-impaired users.

2. Campus Sentinel iPhone, Android, Free

Using the influence of social media, this app reviews social sharing activities to prevent and investigate crimes. During large events, campus authorities can watch for potential incidents via social media. Institutions can create a Social Sentinel Safety App accessible to students, staff and parents. This can be used to inform campus communities about currents incidents, and to broadcast preventive programming events.

(Next page: Campus safety apps 3-6)

3. Elert Campus iPhone/iPad, Android, Free

Elerts gives users a designated platform to report incidents to security personnel using smartphones. The platform offers multimedia options including photos and GPS location. This information can aid security in determining which response method would be most effective. Students or staff are connected directly to authorities, who can ask for more detailed descriptions or give instructions.

4. Guardly Safe Campus App  iPhone, Android, Free

This app gives smartphones the power of a traditional blue light emergency phone. Guardly’s ‘personal duress button’ links campus police to college students, faculty and staff in seconds. It allows users to submit information such as caller profile and real-time location. In an emergency, users can communicate with campus authorities by phone calls, or secure instant messaging. According to a recent case study, Guardly Safe Campus has reduced response times by 44% on college campuses.

5. LiveSafe iPhone/iPad, Android, Free

LiveSafe was co-founded by a survivor of the Virginia Tech 2007 shooting. This social safety app aims to keep users informed about their community through detailed reports, which can be shared within a user’s social network. When users are in unsafe situations, they can use their smartphone as a GPS tracker, notifying close friends and relatives when they arrive at their destination. Users can also notify local authorities of any incidents via video, picture, text message and GPS-tagged audio.

6. In Case of Crisis iPhone/iPad, Android, Free

This app provides ‘Cliff Notes’ for protocols  in emergencies from natural disasters to school shootings. Depending on the incident category, users can choose the event and download guides detailing next steps.

The mobile emergency response and business continuity solution is designed to allow universities to publish their specific emergency procedures and instructions via an online portal to employees’, students’ and constituents’ Apple, Android and Amazon Kindle mobile devices. It is equipped with incident reporting – allowing safety personnel and students to be an extra set of eyes during a crisis by filling out and submitting customizable incident forms as events are unfolding.

(Next page: Campus safety apps 7-10)

7. Police Pad  Android, $2.99

This app gives security a platform to report incident information seamlessly. Police Pad attaches a time stamp to every event created. Authorities can collect pictures, text notes and voice notes in one application. All information can be eMailed and archived, increasing the efficiency of the documentation process.

8. Rave Guardian iPhone/iPad, Android, Free

This app helps students create a ‘safety network’ by connecting them with campus security, friends and family. When users connect to the app through the Panic Button feature, many forms of relevant data are communicated such as GPS location, campus ID photo, address and medical conditions. The Personal Guardian feature allows students to set a time when traveling in unsafe situations. If a student does not deactivate the timer before the designated time, the student is automatically connected to security personnel.

9. SafeWatch TEAM iPhone $20.99, Android $9.99

Intended for educators and employers, this app gives leadership the opportunity to create a hierarchy of information dissemination. With the creation of Safety Teams, employers decide what information is communicated directly to police, and what is sent to colleagues. All employees can connect to security or local authorities with the touch of a button, and notify those in their designated Safety Team of an emergency. Team alerts are sent in the form of texts, emails and GPS-location.

10. TapShield iPhone/iPad, Android, Free app, Call for pricing on service plans

TapShield offers institutions a cost-effective back-end solution to updating campus security. Through its cloud-based system, this app aims to reach college students where they are. Users connect to emergency dispatchers within 5 seconds, using their smartphones to send the incident details, real-time GPS locations, and relevant information. Data is collected in the incident response dashboard for campus security personnel. Dispatchers can communicate directly with users via text message, and send out mass alerts to up to one million users.

Jaccii Barmer is an editorial intern with eCampus News.

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