San Diego State University has launched a new campus safety app that will help promote student safety both on and off campus. The SDSU Safe app is a joint effort with AppArmor, the university’s vendor for mass emergency notifications.

According to an official university release, the campus safety app will be available for both the flagship SDSU campus and SDSU Imperial Valley. The app is available for free download for all students, faculty and staff.

“The safety and security of our community and campus are paramount,” says SDSU President Adela de la Torre. “In addition to enhancing safety-related workshops, training sessions and events over the recent years – including improved policies related to student conduct – we have improved our mechanisms for communicating campus emergencies and resources to students, faculty, staff and our parents and families."

SDSU Safe leverages mobile and GPS technologies, with features that can send campus safety alerts as well as provide instant access to a range of university safety resources and reporting tools. SDSU Safe also includes a number of alert features, including:

• Safety Notifications: Users can receive notifications and instructions from SDSU when the university is communicating about emergencies occurring on or near campus.
• Friend Walk: Users can share their physical location with an individual through email or SMS, enabling that individual to track their progress to their destination.
• Mobile Blue Light: This feature will contact the University Police Department, sharing information about user's location in real time.
• Reporting: Users can report emergencies, crime tips or incidents.
• SDSU Urgent: Directly connects to the university’s Urgent.sdsu.edu page, which the university launches in the event of certain emergency situations to keep the campus informed of incidents, responses and safety measures.
• Campus Map: Access to the SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley maps with campus shuttle info.

All students, employees, parents and families and other community members are encouraged to update their contact information on file with SDSU to better enhance the app's ability to send important information and alerts. “In a public safety event it is critical that we quickly and simply communicate to our students, faculty, and staff ‘where they live,’ which is on their mobile devices,” says Jerry Sheehan, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at SDSU. “AppArmor provides us with a leading-edge app to help provide easy access to critical campus alerts and new tools, like friend walk, to help assure the safety of our students.”