Posts by author:
Rebekah Smiltneek took it upon herself to write a detailed recommendation report for Guardly to be adopted by the campus police department at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. This report was initially part of her class project. Everyone at Guardly thanks Rebekah for taking the time and care to consider our Safe Campus program for her school.
Cover Letter
Enclosed is “Security Mobile Phone Application: A Recommendation Report.” This report contains a recommendation of the Guardly Safe Campus system, a new technology aimed at increasing campus safety and communication with campus police.
Since you have expressed your commitment to investing in technology upgrades for the UW-Milwaukee Police Department, I hope you will carefully consider this recommendation. The report analyzes smartphone use on college campuses and the merits of the Guardly Safe Campus system. The features, costs, benefits, and demand for the Guardly Safe Campus system are discussed. I obtained many facts about the product from a Guardly representative.
I hope this report will provide you with all the information you need to evaluate the Guardly Safe Campus system for UW-Milwaukee. Please let me know if you have any questions about this report.
Executive Summary
This report examines the effects of the UW-Milwaukee community’s inability to use current cell phone technology, such as texting and sending photos, to communicate with police. The purpose of this report is to provide the UW-Milwaukee Police Department with the information necessary for assessing the effectiveness of implementing a security phone application, Guardly Safe Campus, for all UW-Milwaukee students, faculty, and staff.
The procedures used to conduct this study are the following. Many recent news stories were consulted. They have revealed the need to utilize this technology, and the federal government also has recognized its importance. Essential information was also gleaned from a Guardly representative, who was consulted in a webinar.
The major findings of the report are the following: (1) Smartphone use is increasing on college campuses. (2) The Guardly Safe Campus mobile phone application has all the features the police department needs to increase its responsiveness on campus. (3) The cost of the mobile phone application system will be affordable for UW-Milwaukee. (4) There will be numerous benefits of implementing the system for students, faculty, and staff, the police department, and the university as a whole. (5) Demand will be high for the phone application. Further research is needed to determine how much it would cost to train employees on the Guardly Safe Campus management system.
Based on these findings, the conclusion has been reached that Guardly Safe Campus would be an appropriate and important addition to the UW-Milwaukee Police Department’s services. The report recommends that the university fund and implement this service as soon as possible.
Introduction
On today’s college campuses, just being able to call campus police in an emergency is not enough. With the prevalence of cell phone technology, students assume they can text the police. When police don’t receive these texts, students have no chance to get help. This is exactly what happened in the infamous Virginia Tech shooting. Some students were in a lecture hall with the shooter, so they couldn’t talk on the phone or call out for help (Gillespie, 2011, p. 1). They desperately tried sending text messages to 911. Local dispatchers never received the silent cries for help (Guardly safe campus). A situation like this could happen at UWM, and lives could be saved if students could text the police.
Another heart-breaking example of text messages not reaching the police is when a girl watched as her two friends were attacked by the “East Coast Rapist” in a wooded area of Prince William County. The Washington Post reported, “The teenager knew that if she tried to make a call from her cellphone, the man would hear her voice and things would get even worse. But she had to get help. She pulled out her cell and started thumbing. ‘911 . . . pls noww man with gun,’ she wrote in a text message. The urgent plea went out to her mother, father and four friends. But emergency dispatchers at the 911 call center never got it” (Labbe-DeBose, 2011, p. 1). This situation could happen in one of our campus’s dorm rooms. Imagine a woman hiding in her dorm room closet while someone attacks her roommates. What a terrible choice she would have to make between calling police and risking being heard and assaulted by the attacker or staying silent and helpless in the closet. Enabling her to text the police would eliminate that terrible choice.
A woman watching her friends being attacked in a dorm room could text her friends for help, but why not the police? Texting can certainly save lives, but it is not as efficient to text a relative or friend when you could just directly text the police. ABC News recently reported on an emergency situation in which texting for help was all two men could do. Seventeen-year-old Tom Mulvaney and his 73-year-old grandfather capsized their canoe is icy water. Even though their wet cell phones didn’t work, they were still somehow able to text relatives for help. Those relatives then had to call 911 (Pinto, 2011). How much more efficient would it have been if the men would have been able to text the police in the first place? Police know how precious those seconds are in an emergency situation.
The federal government has recently recognized texting as the solution to the problem. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) thinks the ability to use cell phone technology in emergencies is important. On September 22, 2011, the FCC took the first step toward “updating the nation’s 911 emergency dialing system to receive text messages, pictures and videos, in addition to voice calls” (Gross, 2011, p. 1). James Barnett, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, said “The ability to send text messages photos and video clips has become commonplace for users of mobile devices, but our legacy, circuit-switched 911 system does not support these forms of communication. Adding these non-voice capabilities to our 911 system will significantly improve emergency response, save lives, and reduce property damage” (Gross, 2011, p. 1). Barnett also confirmed that in some situations, having to make a voice call puts victims in further danger. The federal government recognizes the importance of solving the current problem.
In light of these recent real-life examples of the problem and the government’s endorsement of texting as the solution, I propose the UW-Milwaukee Police Department enhance its security services by using the cell phone technology that the majority of students, faculty, and staff already use. I urge you to implement a security smartphone application for all students, faculty, and staff that will enable your police to receive locations of users, text, and photo messages, and more.
Analysis of Smartphone Use
To implement a security smartphone application on campus, students will first need to have smartphones. Smartphone use is steadily increasing. A study by Ball State University found that 99.8 percent of college students own a cell phone (Truong, 2010, p. 1). In February 2009, only 27 percent of students used smartphones (Truong, 2010, p. 1); however, Adam Levine of Gaurdly, a company that produces security phone applications, reports that about 65 percent now use smartphones (2011, p. 4).
I did my own smaller survey of 25 UW-Milwaukee students to see if I would find the same results as Guardly. I did. Sixty-four percent of students I surveyed use a smartphone.
What are students using their smartphones for? In 2011, Graham surveyed 462 college students on their smartphone use. Out of 19 possible choices, 95 percent of students said they use texting on their smartphones—more than any other feature (Graham, 2011, p. 4). Photos and video came in at 91.3 percent, while only 81 percent of students said they use voice calling. In my survey, I asked students what they use their smartphones for. My results illustrate the same trend Guardly found.
Texting is one of the most popular activities, with photos and video sharing next, and voice calls after that, coming in at only 87 percent. Texting is overtaking calling as students’ main way to communicate. The Ball State University study found 97 percent of students use texting as their main form of communication—not email or instant messaging (Truong, 2010, p. 1). The popularity of texting as evident by these surveys and studies explains why students expect to be able to text the police.
What kinds of smartphones do students use? The Guardly study found that the majority of smartphone users have either Android, iPhone, or Blackberry (Levine, 2011, p. 4).
Analysis of Guardly Safe Campus
The stage is set for the implementation of a security mobile phone application because students are increasingly using smartphones on campus. I recommend the Guardly Safe Campus service. It is a security management system that allows first responders to receive texts, photos, and the location of the person communicating with the police. The service includes phone applications for student, faculty, and staff smartphones (Guardly safe campus). The phone application can be used on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7 devices, which are the majority of smartphones students use (Levine, 2011, p. 4).
Features
The Guardly Safe Campus system has many important and useful features for both students and police.
Networks and Communication
The phone application will enable students to communicate quickly with safety networks. Safety networks are lists of contacts that a student can quickly notify in an emergency or non-emergency. In one tap, students can alert two different safety networks (Levine, 2011, p. 5):
- Campus police or 911 (depending on where the student is)
- Friends, family, and/or neighbors
Students can create custom safety networks, like “Studying Late” or “Allergic Reaction.” This ensures students can quickly contact the appropriate friends or relatives in any situation. In certain situations, these friends of relatives might be more helpful than the campus police. For example, if a student has an allergic reaction, a family member or roommate could quickly bring the medicine they need to their location. Another example would be a female student who is walking home from campus to her apartment in the evening. She feels like she is being followed, so she alerts campus police and her “Studying Late” safety network. Her “Studying Late” safety network could include friends who live in nearby apartments who could aid her. This feature could also be especially useful to disabled students who may have difficulty contacting people for help.
The phone application will enable students to do the following (Guardly safe campus):
- Communicate with campus police and/or safety networks by voice calling
- Communicate with campus police and/or safety networks by sending text messages and photos
- Play a loud whistle to scare attackers/followers or alert others to their situation
Profile and Location
When a student communicates with campus police and/or safety networks, the following information will be sent automatically:
- Real-time location
- Personal profile information
Each person using the Guardly phone application would create a profile with personal information to be shared with campus police or other security networks in an emergency. The personal profile would include the following information to be sent automatically to police in an emergency:
- Identity
- Campus email
- Phone number
- Physical or medical information such as allergies or current medications
- Emergency contact information such as parents’ or doctors’ information
In addition to the profile information, Guardly will also immediately send a student’s real-time location to police. Guardly uses GPS technology, cell-tower triangulation, and WiFi-hotspots to maintain accurate readings of the person’s location (Guardly safe campus). Police can define the area/perimeter in which students can alert campus security. This system has the following advantages over code-blue emergency phones in terms of location (Levine, 2011, p. 9):
- Faster access to report incidents
- Faster ability to respond to incidents
- Campus police can stay connected if the emergency moves
In addition, students will know how to use the mobile phone application to alert police to their location. In my survey, I found that although 76 percent of students are aware of the code-blue emergency phones on campus, only 44 percent know how to use them.
The real-time location feature would be especially helpful to the disabled. After observing a blind friend struggling to figure out his location on campus while using his iPhone, I realized that having his location immediately sent to police in an emergency would be immensely helpful. Guardly can be used by people with hearing, visual, or physical impairments. The Guardly website says, “Guardly for iPhone has been specifically designed with accessibility standards and can be fully operated by vision impaired individuals (after initial setup of the mobile application).” (Guardly safe campus). Additionally, the texting feature of the phone application would facilitate clear communication with speech-challenged students.
Management System
The management system interface will be easy to install and use. Guardly works with many existing systems, and Guardly can also do a custom system integration. First responders will be able to locate everything they need from one page.
The Guardly Safe Campus management system will keep track of everything for the police department, including the following (Levine, 2011, p. 12):
- All incidents
- Time data
- Location data
- People notified and involved
- Any communications after the incident
First responders will use an easy, web-based system that requires no additional hardware or software beyond a computer, monitor, and internet browser. The system will improve compliance by improving reporting and auditing capabilities.
Cost
With the recent budget cuts to education in Wisconsin, you may be thinking UW-Milwaukee will be unwilling to fund an updated security system. However, safety is a huge concern of parents and students in making college decisions. If students and parents feel the campus is unsafe, they may choose a college in the suburbs. Additionally, Chancellor Lovell has mandated that all UW-Milwaukee freshmen, with some exceptions, live in residence halls starting next year, and sophomores must live on campus as well in three to five years (Herzog, 2011, p. 1). This will mean more students on campus more often, which increases the need for improved safety features.
The retail price for the Guardly mobile application is $20 per year per person. However, I discussed the possibilities with Adam Levine, a Guardly representative, and he said Guardly is [priced differently for schools and that there would be a substantial discount on a per person basis, for an implementation at UW-Milwaukee]. *Pricing details were removed from the public version of this report.
Benefits
There would be numerous benefits to implementing the Guardly Safe Campus service for students, the police department, and the university. The benefits to students, faculty, and staff would be the following:
- They could communicate silently with police and/or security networks when oral communication would put them in further danger or is not possible.
- They wouldn’t need to waste time communicating their identity or other information about themselves.
- They wouldn’t need to know and communicate their location.
- They wouldn’t need to remember descriptions of the person(s) involved in the situation.
- They would feel more empowered to communicate with police.
The benefits to the police department would be the following:
- Police can respond more efficiently, quickly, and accurately due to increased communication of information.
- Finding and arresting criminals would be easier with photos to assist. No longer are descriptions dependent on memory.
- Compliance will be improved.
- The system will be easy for police to implement and use.
The benefits to the university would be the following:
- Criminals would be deterred by the thought that anyone can silently text the police or take photos and send them to the police.
- The school could advertise its commitment to the safety of students by pointing out its use of the most current cell phone technology. As a result, enrollment could increase.
Demand
Will students want to use this phone application if offered? Demand will be high. Guardly did a survey of Canadian college students to discover how enthusiastic and cooperative students would be about signing up for and setting up a security mobile phone application system. If the mobile phone application was offered free to students, 93 percent said they would sign up for it. The majority of students would also be willing to provide police with essential information on a student profile. They would give their email addresses (96 percent), phone number (93 percent), and emergency contacts (83 percent) to help police.
I did my own survey of UW-Milwaukee undergraduate students to discover if I would obtain similar results on our campus. In my survey, 76 percent said they would want the security mobile phone application system if it were free. The majority would be willing to fill out a student profile for the police to use in an emergency (72 percent) and provide their email addresses (68 percent) and emergency contacts (60 percent) on their student profile, but they were divided as to providing their phone numbers.
Additionally, I found that only 24 percent of students always feel safe on campus. Sixty-eight percent said they would feel more empowered to communicate with police in an emergency if they had the security mobile phone application installed on their phone.
Administrators as well as students recognize the demand for this kind of application. In September 2011, a security mobile phone application became available to students at the University of Maryland. The application was developed by a university computer science professor and a team of students in conjunction with campus police. Shiv Krishnamoorthy, a doctoral candidate who helped develop the application, said students are eager for smartphone applications that will help them feel safer on campus (Sentementes, 2011, p. 1C).
Conclusions and Recommendations
After researching and analyzing the problem and solution, I conclude the following:
- Smartphone use is steadily increasing on college campuses.
- The Guardly Safe Campus mobile phone application has all the features the police department needs to increase its responsiveness on campus.
- The cost of the mobile phone application system will be affordable for UW-Milwaukee due to large discounts offered.
- There will be numerous benefits of implementing the system for students, faculty, and staff, the police department, and the university as a whole.
- Demand will be high for the phone application among students and administrators who use smartphones.
I urge you to add this life-saving technology to your security services at UW-Milwaukee. The police department is already using texting (the S.A.F.E program) to communicate to students, faculty, and staff about on-going threats to the campus. Why not allow them to communicate with police using this same technology? Since the police department is committed to using “progressive and technologically sound practices,” (Mission statement) why not take this logical and important next step in protecting the campus? Implement the Guardly Safe Campus system.
References
Gillespie, E. (2011, April 16). Texting 911 in the works. Corvallis Gazette-Times. Retrieved on November 11, 2011 from <http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_a7ed21ca-67fd-11e0-b847-001cc4c03286.html>
Graham, H., Griffin, M., Howell, S., Taylor, H. (2011, April 24). College students and smartphone usage. Retrieved November 11, 2011 from
<http://hsometimes.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/survey-project-with-appendix.pdf>
Gross, G. (2011, September 22). FCC moves toward texting, video for emergency calls. IT News. Retrived October 25, 2011 from <http://www.itnews.com/3g/37095/fcc-moves-toward-texting-video-emergency-calls>
Guardly safe campus. (2011). Guardly.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011 from <https://www.guardly.com/partners/safe-campus-program>
Herzog, K. (2011, October 13). New chancellor Lovell to put UWM in spotlight. JS Online (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Retrieved on October 25, 2011 from
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/new-chancellor-lovell-to-put-uwm-in-spotlight-131836223.html>
Labbe-DeBose, T. (2011, April 23). 911 systems slow to make shift to text-messaging. The Washington Post. Retrieved on October 25, 2011 from
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/texting-911-emergency-line-just-doesnt-get-it/2011/03/28/AF3VKnXE_story.html>
Levine, Adam. (2011). Guardly safe campus program. [PowerPoint Presentation].
Pinto, B. (Reporter). (2011, March 27). 911: Getting answers; Emergency text messages. World News Sunday [Television broadcast]. Chicago.
Sentementes, G.G. (2011, August 28). On-campus safety apps; Companies partner with colleges for high-tech security solutions. The Baltimore Sun. p. 1C.
Truong, K. (2010, June 17). Student smartphone use doubles; Instant messaging loses favor. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved on October 27, 2011 from <http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/student-smartphone-use-doubles-instant-messaging-loses-favor/24876>
UW-Milwaukee Police Department. (n.d.). Mission statement. Retrieved on October 25, 2011 from <http://www4.uwm.edu/police/about.cfm>
Bibliography
Bambenek, J. & Klus, A. (2008, July-September). Do emergency text messaging systems put students in more danger? Educause Quarterly, 31(3).
Communications Daily. (2011, October 6). 911 overload calls for transition to NG911, technical solutions, policy, procedure changes.
Dalton, M. (2011, April 11). WLU officials think texting option makes for safer school experience. The Record.com. Retrieved on November 22, 2011 from < http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/515380–wlu-officials-think-texting-option-makes-for-safer-school-experience>
International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry (CITA). (n.d.)
Texting loved ones during an emergency. CITA.org. Retrieved on November 22, 2011 from < http://www.ctia.org/consumer_info/safety/index.cfm/AID/10570>
Magid, L. (2010, November 23). Magid on tech: Expanding 911 to take texts, video. San Jose Mercury News (California).
Targeted News Service. (2011, September 22). Thursday 6:18 AM EST. statement of Commissioner Michael J. Copps.
Woodruff, A. (2009, July 1). High-tech 911 system coming to Madison County. Athens Banner-Herald (Georgia).
Related Posts:
Guardly Safe Campus Program infrastructure developed within OCAD U’s own mobile incubator, MEIC
(Toronto—February 22, 2012) OCAD University has teamed up with mobile start-up Guardly to launch a revolutionary new service aimed to improve the safety of students, faculty and staff both on and off campus.
The Guardly Safe Campus Program transforms personal smartphones into code blue emergency phones, the type of emergency consoles typically found installed on campuses across the country. Instead of needing to find one of these devices to signal distress, students can now activate a personal safety network, including campus security, simply by activating the Guardly application on their personal phones.
During an active emergency incident on campus, Guardly uses a combination of GPS, WiFi and cell tower triangulation to track location and provides this information to a campus security dispatcher. For privacy purposes, location tracking is only enabled once a student triggers an alert. A caller’s extended safety network can provide input to campus security to aid in response efforts.
Guardly Safe Campus also makes it easier for those with physical disabilities or sensory impairments to reach help. Since Guardly Safe Campus is built upon the Guardly infrastructure, if students or staff members have an emergency off-campus, the Guardly mobile application can still be used to notify up to 15 emergency contacts as well as 9-1-1 services, further extending the value of the service to OCAD U community members.
“Guardly’s Safe Campus Program has been designed in tandem with campus security administrators and unlocks the capabilities for security managers to immediately identify callers, track location in real-time and communicate with emergency callers by voice or instant messaging,” said Josh Sookman, CEO, Guardly Corp.
The subscription-based Guardly mobile personal safety system has been available to individuals since April 2011. A graduate of OCAD U’s Mobile Experience Innovation Centre (MEIC) incubator program, Guardly developed its core infrastructure and its first mobile application for iPhone during its six month residency. It was also during this key period that Guardly, through discussions with key personnel at OCAD U’s campus security and security teams at other universities, learned about how the technology could help higher educational institutions keep campuses safe. Guardly is currently available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices.
“The Guardly Safe Campus Program will undoubtedly revolutionize security services in higher education environments,” said OCAD University President, Dr. Sara Diamond. “Guardly is a powerful communications tool for campus security teams, giving them the critical information they need to effectively respond to emergency incidents ever more quickly. We’re even more proud that the infrastructure for the service was developed within OCAD U’s mobile incubator at the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre. This is one of many research commercialization successes coming through OCAD U’s research and innovation initiatives.”
OCAD U is currently undergoing a rigorous testing period with a plan to roll out the app to the entire OCAD U community by September.
OCAD University (OCAD U): 135 Years of Imagination
OCAD University (www.ocadu.ca) is Canada’s “university of the imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.
Guardly Corp.
Guardly (https://www.guardly.com) is a platform for emergency communication that facilitates rapid social, mobile and location-aware responses to calls for assistance. Smartphone users who find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities, campus security as well as their own safety groups in a single tap. Guardly is based in Toronto and raised venture funding from Golden Venture Partners, Extreme Venture Partners and angel investors. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency.
- 30 -
For more information and images, please contact:
Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer, OCAD University
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)
smulholland@ocadu.ca
See the News Release originally published on OCAD University’s website.
Related Posts:
Connects students, faculty and staff to campus security instantly with mobile app for smartphones, available anywhere on campus
TORONTO – January 19, 2012 – Guardly develops mobile applications that broadcast calls for help and connects people to provide assistance in case of emergency. Today, Guardly is announcing a free nationwide service for students, faculty and staff at 67 Canadian universities and colleges across Canada. By simply downloading the Guardly app and registering with a university-issued email address, campus members can hold their own personal code-blue emergency phones, providing one-touch mobile access to campus security from virtually any location on campus. This is the first time that a service of its kind is being made available to Canadian students.
“It was a natural evolution of our technology, to enable a service like this for students,” says Guardly CEO, Josh Sookman. “Given the high prevalence of sexual assault against women and increases in violent acts on some campuses, we feel this innovation should be something provided to students for free. So we’ve done just that!”
Rona Ambrose, the Federal Minister of the Status of Women Canada, has recently shown public interest in taking action against violence against women at Canadian colleges and universities. In November 2011, Ms. Ambrose announced a request for proposals to end violence against women on post-secondary campuses. By empowering each person on campus with a virtual emergency phone to quickly report crimes and other emergencies, Guardly hopes to foster communities on campus that will look out for one another, boost safety awareness and action against crimes. For perpetrators, this is a very scary proposition since anyone within earshot can now report crimes immediately.
Eligibility and Usage of Free Mobile Emergency Phone Service for Campuses
Every student, faculty and staff member at the 67 supported universities and colleges across Canada will be eligible to use the free mobile emergency phone service. To register for and use the free service, you must sign up with your post-secondary school-issued email address, which automatically associates your account with your affiliated university or college. Once registered, when using Guardly on-campus to send any emergency alert, you will be connected to campus security by phone. We know when to connect you with campus security by quickly finding your GPS location and determining if you are within the boundaries of the campus. If you are off-campus, Guardly will not connect you with campus security, but will allow you to alert and connect with up to 15 people in your safety group as well as escalate more severe emergencies to 9-1-1.
Guardly is available as a free download on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices.
Helping Ordinary Students Become Extra-Ordinary with the Campus Hero Campaign
Guardly is inviting students to join and participate in its Campus Hero Campaign. Joining the Campus Hero Campaign is easy and represents a positive step toward ending violence on Canadian campuses.
By downloading the Guardly app, students can work together as a collective group to take a stand against anybody looking to cause trouble on their campus. By simply sharing a message and encouraging friends to protect themselves and each other, we create vital awareness around violence against women and campus safety. In effect, students are assuming the roles of Campus Heroes.
To learn more about becoming a Campus Hero on your campus visit: https://www.guardly.com/campushero
Guardly Safe Campus Program
The Guardly Safe Campus program is a management layer for campus security teams to manage incoming Guardly alerts. Partnering with the Guardly Safe Campus Program gives campus security more visibility into each emergency call on campus including the ability to identify callers, view additional profile information, track caller location in real-time and communicate with emergency callers by voice or instant messaging. To learn more, please visit: https://www.guardly.com/partners/safe-campus-program
About Guardly
Guardly (https://www.guardly.com) is a platform for emergency communication that facilitates rapid social, mobile and location-aware responses to calls for assistance. Smartphone users that find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities, campus security as well as their own safety groups in a single tap. Guardly is based in Toronto and raised venture funding from Golden Venture Partners, Extreme Venture Partners and angel investors. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency.
###
Related Posts:
Guardly will enable C.A.R.’s 155,000 members to instantly connect with managers, colleagues, family and 911 when faced with safety concerns.
Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) January 10, 2012 — The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) today announced it has entered into an affinity partnership with Guardly, a leading provider of mobile personal safety applications, to provide a smartphone app that helps REALTORS® stay safe on the job.
Guardly is extremely pleased to team up with C.A.R., the largest state association of REALTORS® in the country, for its Keep Safe Program for REALTORS®. Guardly will offer the REALTOR® safety mobile application to C.A.R.’s 155,000 members.
Guardly is a mobile smartphone application that can help REALTORS® feel safe and secure while on the job. Guardly empowers its users by providing one-touch access to their safety network. Simply launching the Guardly app on a smartphone will instantly identify a user’s location and alert family, friends, co-workers, managers and 911 operators that he or she has an emergency. Beyond simple notifications, Guardly instantly connects users to their contacts through conference call, instant messaging and real-time location tracking. Built-in security features include the ability to snap and share pictures of an assailant and sound a loud whistle.
Guardly’s Keep Safe Program for REALTORS® provides REALTORS® with peace of mind when performing the everyday duties of their job including hosting open houses, meeting new clients, working late at night and showing vacant properties in unfamiliar locations.
In a recent National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) safety survey, 67% of respondents said they have experienced safety concerns, incidents, or other harassing situations while working as a REALTOR®[1]. An NAR survey from 2010 also indicated that 93% of respondents aged 40 years old or younger used a smartphone to conduct real estate business and 86% of respondents older than 40 use a smartphone[2].
“With criminal attacks against REALTORS® on the rise and the prevalent usage of smartphones by REALTORS®, it was a natural fit to equip our members with Guardly as a tool to stay safe,” said C.A.R. President LeFrancis Arnold. “We encourage members to take advantage of this technology and to share it with family, friends, and clients.”
“It is amazing to see the interest from REALTOR® associations in such a short time frame,” mentioned Luke Slan at Guardly. C.A.R. is an extremely visionary and innovative association and is an obvious leader in the field. I expect many other associations to follow their lead in recognizing the importance of REALTOR® safety and make this product available to their members.”
The Guardly Keep Safe Program for REALTORS® encourages C.A.R. members to form groups or buddy systems, which act to connect managers, colleagues, family and friends in case of emergency and facilitate communication between parties to provide assistance. In offering Guardly to its members, C.A.R. is reaffirming its commitment to REALTOR® safety and encouraging its members to activate and share this safety tool.
For more information, visit: http://www.car.org/members/memberbenefits/memberdiscounts/
Leading the way… ® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (http://www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with more than 155,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.
About Guardly
Guardly’s platform for emergency communication facilitates rapid social, mobile and location-aware responses to calls for assistance. Smartphone users that find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities, campus security as well as their own safety groups in a single tap. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency. The company is a member of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and is based in Toronto, Canada. For more information visit: https://www.guardly.com.
References:
[1] Arizona Association of REALTORS®,“Safety Resources for REALTORS®”, Available at: http://www.aaronline.com/ForRealtors/Safety/
[2] Center for REALTOR® Technology. January 2010. “Smartphone Survey Report”, Available at: http://www.realtor.org/
Related Posts:
For many Americans and Canadians, the ability to call 911 for help in an emergency is one of the main reasons they own a mobile phone. In the US, the number of 911 calls placed by people using wireless phones has significantly increased in recent years. It is estimated that about 70 percent of 911 calls are placed from wireless phones, and that percentage is growing.
First, let’s understand the problem.
The FCC’s concern with mobile location detection
“While wireless phones can be an important public safety tool, they also create unique challenges for emergency response personnel and wireless service providers. Since wireless phones are mobile, they are not associated with one fixed location or address. While the location of the cell site closest to the 911 caller may provide a general indication of the caller’s location, that information is not usually specific enough for rescue personnel to deliver assistance to the caller quickly.”
Source: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/wireless-911-services
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted rules aimed at improving the reliability of wireless 911 services and the accuracy of the location information transmitted with a wireless 911 call; however, even with Enhanced 9-1-1 (E911) Phase II, location accuracy is not very precise — especially when in urban centres. E911 Phase II mandates that location accuracy be within 300 meters, and be transmitted to 911 within six minutes of a request by a public service answering point (PSAP). That’s a long time!
How Guardly Improves Location Finding
First and foremost, Guardly uses GPS and WiFi hotspot lookups to give you the most accurate location readings. It will use Assisted-GPS (AGPS) as a back-up system, when GPS is not available. Beyond on-device sensors, Guardly allows you to configure predefined locations and manually confirm your location at any time.
Configure Guardly Locations
Guardly helps you to predefine a number of locations in your profile, along with some additional information that can be valuable to responders. Locations such as home, work, cottage, partner’s house and hotel can provide meaningful context to responders when your location becomes available on the map. You can add additional details such as suite/room numbers and buzzer/access codes — to further improve accessibility by your responders.
Guardly Location Confirm
During an emergency, if the Guardly app detects that your location accuracy is off by more than 50 meters, it will ask you to manually confirm your location for your responders. This is as simple as dragging and dropping a pin on a map. Your location will be transmitted as a confirmed location, which is extremely valuable.
By including these additional features, Guardly allows your responders to call 911 on your behalf and relay time-sensitive rescue information more reliably. When Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) becomes available, Guardly will be ready and willing to send your information to the 911 authority as soon as we know you make a confirmed 911 call requesting for their assistance. However, a functional and nationwide NG9-1-1 infrastructure is still a few years away.
Related Posts:
Once an emergency has happened, it’s easy to look back and say “I should have been more prepared.” Guardly helps you prepare for emergencies by setting up effective groups, running practice simulations and ensuring that you have a complete profile.
Your Guardly Profile is an opportunity to disclose important information about yourself that will be made available to your responders in case of emergency.
Here are a few pointers:
Photo
If you believe the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” — start off by capturing and uploading a photo of yourself.
Contact Details
Even though Guardly will connect you with your responders, be sure to include your contact information, including up-to-date telephone numbers and email address. Once an emergency has ended, it is common for responders to want to get in contact with you however possible.
Physical and Medical Information
Guardly allows you to share your physical information such as eye color, hair color, height, weight and blood type — information that is important to quickly disseminate in cases of kidnappings or amber alerts. For people with medical concerns and conditions, your Guardly Profile can store information about known medical conditions, medications and allergies as well as your doctor’s name and phone number and your insurance plan and policy number.
Remember: In an emergency, it’s imperative that your Guardly Groups have access to your personal information that can prove beneficial in an emergency. If your emergency is a medical event, these details are extremely important for paramedics and other rescuers to know in case they need to administer new drugs on-site. So please be proactive and keep your safety group informed. Be sure to review your profile every three months to ensure it remains accurate.
Related Posts:
We’ve been out speaking to customers and we’ve listened to feedback about how we can keep improving our Guardly mobile clients.
Location tracking technologies have come a long way in the last couple decades, but most mobile phones lack GPS sensors that are accurate all the time. Depending on your location, there may be buildings or other objects interfering with your phone’s direct line-of-sight to the GPS satellite network, and this can affect the accuracy reading of your exact location.
Today, Guardly announces Location Confirm for iOS devices. Location Confirm will detect the accuracy of your GPS readings and prompt you to refine your location on a map if necessary. Refining your location can be done with a simple drag-and-drop gesture. This will reinforce to your responder group that you are indeed where your mobile device says you are.
With this update to our location tracking and reporting technology, we hope to further decrease the amount of time it takes for first and secondary responders to reach our customers if and when they use Guardly to broadcast a request for help or assistance.
In our most recent update, Guardly also brings supports for iOS5 devices. Download it here.
Related Posts:
Download Guardly
