UC Davis this week is introducing a mobile app for personal safety.

Aggie Guardian is available to anyone with a "ucdavis.edu" email address. Features include a virtual safety escort, an icon to make 911 calls quickly and the ability to text tips to the UC Davis Police Department, plus access to create a "Smart911" emergency profile.

ACTION ITEMS

• Download Aggie Guardian for Apple and Android phones.
• Register.
• Choose your guardians.
• Complete your Smart911 emergency profile. Find it by opening your Aggie Guardian index (three dots of the left side of your screen), then clicking on your name/email address,.The profile is optional.

Learn more on the Police Department's Aggie Guardian Web page.

SAFETY SERVICES

Aggie Guardian is more campus safety service, joining a list that includes:

• Safe Rides
• Tipsy Taxi
• UC Davis WarnMe and Aggie Alert
• Self-defense instruction offered through the Police Department and the Department of Physical Education

The app can be downloaded for free for Apple and Android phones. You'll see it listed as Rave Guardian, but, after it recognizes your ucdavis.edu email account, it converts to Aggie Guardian, specific to UC Davis.

New vendor provides new services

The personal safety app is one of two features that UC Davis gained when it recently changed vendors for its emergency notification system. First, in April, the campus expanded its UC Davis WarnMe and Aggie Alert system to allow anyone — parents, employee's family members, campus neighbors and others — to subscribe to receive the emergency messages. The community registration page is here.

Now comes Aggie Guardian, and Police Chief Matt Carmichael is encouraging students and employees to explore and use it.

"People can use Aggie Guardian for a greater sense of security as they move about campus," the chief said. "We also hope they'll take advantage of the features that will enable them to quickly call 911 when they need help and communicate important information that will help us find and assist them."

Virtual safety escort

Aggie Guardian is named in part for its ability to act as a virtual safety escort. A user selects a "guardian" — such as a friend, family member or the UC Davis Police Department — and sets a timer with his or her approximate time of travel. If the user doesn't deactivate the timer before it counts down, the app sends an alert to the guardian.

If the campus Police Department is the guardian for that trip, the app will alert the department, which will follow its protocols to determine if the user is OK or needs assistance. That may mean a phone call, text message or dispatching an officer to the user's last known location.

If someone else is the guardian, that person would be alerted and may try to call, text or locate the user. The guardian could also choose to notify the UC Davis Police Department or other emergency services.

Smart911 profile and other features

Anyone who uses Aggie Guardian can create a Smart 911 profile to help emergency services find and assist the user when he or she calls 911. The optional profile, which displays to emergency dispatchers when a user calls 911 from a registered phone, can include:

• Emergency medical information, such as allergies and disabilities
• Work and home addresses and phone numbers
• Driver's license and vehicle information
• Physical description and photo
• Emergency contacts

The app also offers an icon to help users quickly place an emergency call to the UC Davis Police Department or nearest 911 service; and enables texting of eyewitness reports to campus police if a user sees something suspicious.  

Privacy

Given the personal information that a user may include in a Smart911 profile and the need to maintain privacy while using the virtual safety escort, privacy protection is a priority.

• Users control how much information they share and who acts as their guardian for each trip.
• The UC Davis Police Department or other 911 dispatchers cannot see a user's Smart911 profile unless the user calls 911. And they have access to it only until the emergency call is handled.
• If a user has phone location services turned on, a guardian can see his or her location. But unless the user needs help, no information about travel plans or location is shared with the UC Davis Police Department.

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