University Of North Carolina Launches Personal Mobile Alarm System

  • Dec 10, 2008
Rave Wireless Inc. recently announced the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has launched the Rave Guardian personal mobile alarm system to offer all students, faculty and staff a direct connection with campus police, whenever and wherever they need it.

Rave Guardian (a phone-accessed application) can be armed, and when triggered, automatically sends the user's picture, mobile number and personal information to campus police. Rave Guardian works on any cell phone from any provider in the U.S., can be used with any emergency notification system, and in many cases can even display the user’s GPS location on a map for campus police to provide assistance more quickly.

“We recognize campus safety as a top priority. The Information Technology Services division is pleased to be partnering with Student Affairs to offer the enhanced safety features of Rave Guardian to our campus community,” said Larry Conrad, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “This new service complements nicely our existing program to register student cell phones numbers in our emergency management notification system.”

Other institutions that have recently signed on to use Rave Guardian include Colorado State University and SUNY-Oswego. These institutions and others recognize that the cell phone can be used as a precautionary tool to keep individuals and campuses safe through improved community policing, and not just as a reactive tool for broadcasting alerting after incidents occur. Rave Guardian is a fully hosted system that is easy for colleges and universities to deploy. There is no hardware or software to install on any computers or cell phones, and the system can be easily integrated with any emergency notification system being used on campus.

According to the 2007 College Board studentPOLL, the safety of the campus is the most important factor for parents in college consideration and choice, and the second most important factor for the students themselves.

The poll reveals that for both parents and students, campus safety ranks higher than other notable factors such as cost of attendance and campus location. Institutions with progressive campus safety programs in place are receiving recognition for their efforts that can lead to improved recruiting and retention. Montclair State University in New Jersey, the first institution to implement Rave Guardian, has won both the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Award and the Campus Technology Innovators Award for its mobile safety initiatives.

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