The Department of Public Safety has begun developing an emergency messenger app to better ensure safety among the Syracuse University student body.

DPS is developing the app with the School of Information Studies. This app will include a map, crime database of incidents that have occurred and an option to add DPS’s number to reach them in an emergency. This app is in its last stages of development, and it does not yet have a name, said Hannah Warren, DPS’s public information and internal communications officer.

Already on the market is a similar app called BlueLight, which uses GPS coordinates to track emergencies when they occur. As SU students started to come back from school, the number of downloads for the app has increased “pretty dramatically,” said Preet Anand, the app’s creator.

DPS isn’t currently participating with the BlueLight app, but is developing a campus safety application of its own, said Warren.

She said DPS has considered texting and coordinate features similar to the ones in BlueLight, but the department decided it wouldn’t be practical in a dangerous situation.

Unlike BlueLight, the DPS app is intended to be more information- and awareness-based, Warren said, including a spinoff version of the map DPS provides. The app will show where and what crimes have been committed in the immediate university area, Warren said.

The DPS app will have an option to add the DPS contact number to reach them in an emergency, she said.

There will also be a message area that will display the five most recent messages sent out by the DPS, whether it is an Orange Alert message, or a public safety notice, Warren said.

This app does not yet have a release date, but it will be tested within the next month or so to make sure any glitches are fixed before releasing it to the public, Warren said. Upon its release, it will be available first for Android systems and iOS systems.

BlueLight is currently available for Android and iOS operating systems. Anand added that a Windows Mobile version will hopefully be available by spring. The set up process for BlueLight, which requires students fill out information for their emergency contacts and college or university, takes less than a minute.

“I really wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to get help,” he said.

Because SU isn’t participating with the app, the coordinates feature isn’t available for SU students, Anand said. But the app is still useful, he said, noting many students don’t know the number for DPS.

BlueLight still allows students to quickly dial campus security and get in touch with emergency contacts, he said. Compared to regular dialing, the number of taps to dial DPS on the app is “about half,” Anand said.

Having the app already downloaded would be convenient in the event SU decides to partner with BlueLight, he said, since full use of the app would be enabled automatically.

A partnership with DPS to allow the coordinates feature for SU students is “aspirational” at the moment, he said.

“If DPS wants to create its own version, more power to them,” Anand said. But, he said, if DPS wanted to partner up, the development team could have SU signed up with the app within a week.

Published on September 17, 2013 at 2:04 am

Contact Erin: eemcdona@syr.edu