Security

Brown U, SUNY Oswego Adopt App for Student Safety

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 10/30/14

Brown University and State University of New York (SUNY) Oswego have each adopted a new mobile security platform to protect students on campus.

The schools adopted Rave Guardian, which combines security infrastructure and user apps and is designed "to transform mobile phones into personal safety devices that can also engage an entire campus community in safety and policing efforts," according to a news release.

"The new app is basically a blue light emergency system available right on your phone," said John Rossi, police chief at SUNY Oswego, in a prepared statement. "It's better to have it and not use it than be in a situation when you need it and don't have it."

Features of Rave Guardian include:

• The ability for users to create a virtual safety network, including friends, family and campus safety organizations;
• The ability to set a safety timer session, which allows the user's network to monitor their location and status updates and be notified with updates at assigned check-in times. If the timer expires or the user hits a panic button, campus safety organizations are notified;
• Two-way anonymous communication, including photos, between users and campus safety;
• A campus safety connect button that, when pressed, connects the user with campus security who receives a detailed profile and GPS location of the user;
• Safety profiles of users designed to provide faster emergency response; and
• School branding of the app, integration with student information systems and around-the-clock support.

"The Rave Guardian app allows users to send tips about suspicious behavior, have their locations monitored when walking on campus and call emergency response lines with one click," said Paul Shanley, deputy chief of police for Brown University's Department of Public Safety, in a prepared statement. "The app can function as a 'virtual safewalk.'"

More information about Rave Guardian is available at ravemobilesafety.com.