“LiveSafe is much more than an app – its a way of taking bystander intervention and community empowerment to the next level through technology,”-Jenny Abramson, CEO of LiveSafe
Multiple conversations at American this year have centered on the university’s efforts towards new sexual assault prevention measures and responses. One interesting approach worth exploring is how smartphone technology is playing a role on other campuses. New technology is altering the way students and campus police not only prevent sexual assault, but also how they respond to crime and mental health issues. It’s an app called LiveSafe, being used at colleges and universities in 18 states to empower students to report tips and emergencies – anonymously if they wish – and build new relationships with campus safety officials. It enables students to have friends and family keep an eye on their movements around campus through the GPS-enabled SafeWalk feature. When campus officials use the Command Dashboard, a cloud-based interface to monitor campus activity, students can initiate immediate communication with campus city officials. We sat down with Jenny Abramson, CEO of LiveSafe to learn more about what this app can do for campuses like American.
Her Campus American: What separates LiveSafe from other incident-preventing applications (i.e. Circle of 6 and Kitestring)?Jenny Abramson: A couple of things: First, the ability to have a dialogue with campus safety officials in real-time via text, with photos and video, and anonymously, if students choose. This is equipping campus safety officials with the information they need to prevent incidents before they happen as well as appropriately address them after the fact. We’ve built a tremendous technology infrastructure to connect students with each other as well as students to campus safety officials. This infrastructure to connect the community is why our partners trust that we can empower real change on their campuses. Our partners say they are getting tips they never would have seen without LiveSafe. Instead of submitting a tip and waiting for someone to arrive at the scene, students can receive updates while the incident is being dealt with. With something like a blue light, for example, you don’t often know who got the alert and how it’s being handled.
HCAU: American University is currently pushing the Step Up! bystander intervention campaign. How would LiveSafe enhance this campaign for students? JA: I’m really happy AU is pushing this campaign. Our team has been speaking with all of our campus partners about bystander intervention and how LiveSafe can help. It’s really important for campuses to have a culture of stepping up. All too often, we hear of students who say they saw something suspicious or bad happening, but felt that taking action could mean ratting on their friends or ruining their social lives. LiveSafe could enhance this campaign because it meets students in their comfort zone. It allows them to submit tips discreetly and anonymously, which removes a lot of the pressure and fear associated with calling campus security or 911.
HCAU: Why is the SafeWalk feature important for college campuses?JA: Students do a lot of walking on college campuses, whether to class, to a friend’s dorm or to a party. They trust their friends’ instincts and they’re already texting all day. If someone is alone and possibly intoxicated, they can use SafeWalk to have a friend or friends look out for them. The map shows where they are, and they can summon 911 with the tap of an icon. The GPS feature is especially important on college campuses: there often aren’t any cross streets to provide, and it is more difficult to guide friends based on landmarks and nearby buildings. Also many phones don’t support simultaneous voice and data – if you’re on the phone with a friend or friends, you can’t send them a map of your location at the same time. You no longer have to rely on text or voice to know where someone is.
HCAU: Why is LiveSafe effective?JA: Our campus partners are reporting a marked increase in tips since introducing the technology, and it has already prevented incidents, make arrests and even help identify a student in need of mental health care. One university has had ten times more tips than before. Police chiefs say it’s unlikely they would have ever gotten these tips without LiveSafe’s anonymity option. Just this semester, the Georgetown Police Department arrested a man who flashed a student studying in a common area. The student was too scared to call given that the man was right there, so she contacted safety officials with LiveSafe. We don’t ever want to pretend as though we are a magic solution, but we are seeing more and more students intervene and encourage their friends to do the same and get help before they’re ready to say who they are.
HCAU: How have students on other college campuses already received the software? How do you get students motivated to use the LiveSafe application?JA: Our campus partners have done a wonderful job actively promoting LiveSafe on campus. Georgetown sent an email touting the app at the beginning of the fall semester, and followed up just a couple weeks ago with a PSA on campus safety asking students to use LiveSafe if they haven’t already downloaded it. Word‐of‐mouth has been tremendously successful‐ we’re seeing an increase in users every week. Three thousand students at USC downloaded LiveSafe during the first week of deployment. We’re thrilled when we see that kind of quick adoption rate – it means there are more students out there taking the initiative to improve safety in their communities.
HCAU: Why do you think it is important to empower college students (and the college communities they attend)?JA: In the last decade, there have been far too many horrible and often fatal incidents on college campuses. While LiveSafe is an important resource for campus safety officials, I believe very strongly in the ability of students to step up and take action. Many people fault students for not reporting incidents, but you have to think about it from the students’ perspective – rather than place blame, get to the root of the problem ‐ why aren’t they reporting? As I mentioned before, there’s a real stigma that comes with being a victim or intervening. We must change that. Students should feel comfortable walking to where they need to go and acting as the eyes and ears of their campuses. College is an opportunity to be independent and self-sufficient – it’s all about empowerment.
HCAU: How do other sectors (besides college campuses) benefit from LiveSafe?JA: LiveSafe is widely used beyond our higher education partners ‐ it’s being adopted by parents, businesses and even sports arenas. In fact, we will be announcing a partnership with the Detroit Pistons, the first NBA team to partner with LiveSafe. For all of our sectors, LiveSafe strengthens community well-being, and provides easy access to information and resources that improve situational awareness.
HCAU: Where do you hope to see the company in 5 years?JA: We want to help make the world a safer place and as such we plan to work with communities in all kinds of sectors to help them improve safety. That said, we are particularly focused on colleges and universities at this time. Students want to take ownership in helping their friends stay safe, and we want to provide easily accessible and effective resources for individuals to take more ownership in their community.