In the wake of the Sept. 13 disappearance of second-year College student Hannah Graham, mobile safety applications have gathered significant interest in recent weeks.
University President Teresa Sullivan sent an email to the student body addressing safety concerns of the University community Sept. 23, introducing a new anonymous crime tip program called TipSoft, which the University adopted this fall.
TipSoft is a software program which allows students and faculty to anonymously report suspicious behavior or crime tips. Users can submit anonymous tips to the University police through the department’s website by texting “CRIME” to the provided number or downloading the mobile application, called “TipSubmit,” to Android and iOS devices.
Software programs like TipSoft have been adopted by university communities across the Commonwealth. Arlington-based startup LiveSafe, which operates in a manner similar to TipSoft, has been adopted by Georgetown University, James Madison University and, most recently, Virginia Tech.
LiveSafe allows users with iPhone or Android devices to submit location-tagged intelligence, photos, audio clips and video. Safety officials can then respond to this information using a command dashboard, which enables immediate contact with users, or can investigate the incident directly using the information already submitted.
Ben Rexrode, University Police Department crime prevention coordinator, said TipSoft was designed as a way for students, faculty and community members to report suspicious activity, and is not intended for use in real-time emergencies.
“It’s intended use is an anonymous way for anyone in the community to report suspicious activity and ... ‘after the fact’ events,” Rexrode said. “[TipSoft] is not a real-time safety app. Sometimes, people don’t want to call 911, but want to report it — this is an anonymous way to report something that has happened.”
Tipsoft is operated by CrimeReports, a company which works with law enforcement in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom to operate “an online family of crime fighting tools including a public crime map, alert messaging, anonymous tipping and data analytics,” according to their website.
The University Police Department adopted the TipSoft software at the beginning of the current school year as a method of alerting police to suspicious behavior in the University community.
Students have responded positively to the idea of an anonymous tip application.
“I think they can help me and my friends feel more secure, because they help people report incidents of suspicious or unlawful behavior anonymously,” first-year College student Michael Holohan said. “Personally, I would feel much more comfortable using anonymous tips over calling the police, because calling the police or talking directly to authorities can be quite stressful and daunting.”
TipSoft was adopted to replace the software Silent Watch, which was previously used by the University police, Rexrode said.
Rexrode said tips come in to the department through email, which are frequently checked by the on-duty supervisor.
Rexrode emphasized that in a situation where police are needed, individuals should call 911.
“The fastest way to reach the police is through calling 911,” Rexrode said. “If you feel you need the police, texting is not the best solution.”
In addition to TipSoft, there are a wealth of other safety applications for students — including SafeWalk, through which students can call the group of designated student walkers, and a male-female team will walk them home, either on and off-Grounds, at night.
The service is available Sunday through Thursday, between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Student Council recently endorsed six other mobile safety applications which address safety using a range of creative approaches.
Rexrode said the safety committee is reviewing other safety apps to determine their effectiveness. TipSoft is the only app currently used by the University police.
“Students may not report a suspicious event when they see it, but think, ‘Maybe I should have called the police,’” Rexrode said. “[TipSoft] is the way for them to do it and remain anonymous.”
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