Dive Brief:

• Colleges are adopting mobile phone applications aimed at campus safety. The apps provide campus police with tip information, including GPS location, physical descriptions, and license plate photos. 
• The new apps can also stamp photos with time and date, so they can be used as evidence, or notify safety officials when an earphone plug is yanked out of a student’s phone, signaling an attack on the student.
• Some campus safety officials believe that the new apps are catching on because students feel more comfortable with texting or communicating through the apps, while calling campus police may be intimidating for the students.

Dive Insight:

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the new apps are gaining popularity with colleges as they look to enhance emergency communication and response. The new apps include EmergenSee, which automatically time stamps images so they can be used in a criminal investigation; TapShield, licensed by the University of Florida, which includes the earplug-yanking notification; LiveSafe, which has been downloaded 4,200 times at Virginia Commonwealth University after its adoption in August; and Rave Guardian. Police report that the apps have increased the number of tips communicated to them about potential incidents on campuses.