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Millersville University, Elizabethtown College, and Franklin & Marshall College have joined efforts to promote greater campus security with the launch of LiveSafe, the leading mobile technology solution that is heralding a paradigm shift toward a campus culture of safety at colleges across the country. The three Lancaster County colleges have united not only in community support, but in increasing safety-related communication.
LiveSafe technology provides two-way communication between students, faculty, and staff with campus safety officials. Through a comprehensive safety app, campus community members can seamlessly share information – anonymously if they prefer – about sexual assault or harassment, mental health concerns, suspicious activity, and more. Additionally, a LiveSafe user is able to have friends and/or family members escort them virtually by sharing his or her location through SafeWalk.
LiveSafe was co-founded by Kristina Anderson, a campus violence survivor, who was shot during the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy. In 81 percent of school shootings at least one person had information that potentially could have prevented the incident from occurring had they reported it. LiveSafe was established to break down communication barriers that can ultimately stymie violence.
“We were pleased to become the first university in Pennsylvania to offer LiveSafe to our students,” said Millersville University police chief, Peter Anders. “While we have a very safe campus, we’re always looking at additional tools our students will use to ensure their and others’ safety.”
Millersville has emergency blue light phones, patrol officers on bikes, and the University Police operate a late-night escort service. “Now we have the LiveSafe app that will help keep our students safe while they are on campus, at their homes, or even on vacation.”
Andrew Powell, director of Elizabethtown College’s Department of Campus Security, said that Elizabethtown College is pleased to be partnering with LiveSafe. “Elizabethtown College has always been a safe campus, but it’s now even safer with this app,” he said. “The College recognizes the tremendous value of technology to create a safe campus environment. LiveSafe’s app is incredibly easy to use while at the same time very comprehensive.
“We are very excited to partner with LiveSafe to make this mobile safety app available to the F&M community. It places a tremendous amount of safety-related resources literally at the fingertips of students, most of whom carry some mobile device with them at all times,” said Bill McHale, director of Franklin & Marshall’s Department of Public Safety (DPS). “Users of this app will be able to reach out anonymously to DPS to report suspicious activity, or to request walking escorts, refer to safety procedures, and engage a feature referred to as SafeWalk, through which a user can call someone and maintain a conversation while that person follows the user on a map.
“F&M chose to pursue this technology as another way to enhance the safety of our community. Mobile safety apps are becoming more popular across the country and we are proud to be in on the front-end of this initiative.”
LiveSafe is available to the Millersville University, Elizabethtown College, and Franklin & Marshall College communities to download for free on iPhone and Android devices.
About LiveSafe, Inc. – LiveSafe is a mobile safety technology that allows communities to connect on safety- and security-related issues via discreet and effective two-way communication. Through a smartphone app, individuals can report incidents and concerns to safety officials who monitor and respond via the real-time, web-based LiveSafe Command Dashboard. Individuals are able to share information about sexual assault, mental health concerns, violence, and more — preventing incidents before they occur. LiveSafe is being used at institutions across 27 states including colleges and universities, corporations, sports stadiums, military installations, and more. For more information, visit www.livesafemobile.com and follow LiveSafe on Twitter at @LiveSafeApp.
