The Department of Public Safety recently renamed Rave Guardian, a mobile phone security application, to Brown Guardian. The change, which did not include any updates or new features, was intended to "personalize the service" for users within the Brown community, said Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety.
The renaming "really was just a simple cosmetic change," said Michelle Nuey, the community relations and outreach manager of public safety.
The application currently has more than 1,000 registered users, Nuey said, adding that the application can be useful for both its users and DPS officers. If users walk home alone at night, they just need to pull out their phones, plug in the start and end points of the journey and allot a reasonable amount of time to reach their destinations, she said. Upon arriving, users can turn off the alarm before the time runs out. If the user arrives safely, DPS will not know the application was used.
If the timer runs out, an alert is sent to DPS, along with a profile filled out by the user including information volunteered such as a picture, an address and medical information that DPS officers should be aware of in the case of an emergency. Nuey said users need not worry DPS can always access this information.
"Alarms are rare and most often come in due to users simply forgetting to deactivate," Nuey said. Sarah Hosokawa '15 is a registered user of the application who stopped using it after her first trial. "I was glad I did it, but it felt really inconvenient, especially turning it off once I got back," she said. Hosokawa said she would prefer to simply make sure she does not walk alone.
While Jared Burgess '14, who works the closing shift at the Gate and crosses campus after 2 a.m., said he would not use the application himself, he speculated that for students who would be comforted by the application, other safety services like Safewalk and SafeRide are more effective.
Unlike other safety services on campus, Brown Guardian "doesn't have the added benefit of deterrence," Jerrica Rodrgiuez '13 said.
Nuey said the app's service extends to areas outside of campus to the greater Providence area. Suzan Scavone '12 said she thought the app would be useful to those who live far off campus. But though she lives in off-campus housing, she has not ever considered using the application.
Providence College does not provide its students with such an application.
Many students said they believed that while they would not take the time to use the application, it would be useful in a life-or-death situation.
The software is also used at American University, Penn and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, among others.
To register for Brown Guardian, students can go to the DPS website, where they can click a link to register and fill out a profile.
