Project Proposal

Problem Statement:

Campus crimes occur on a daily basis at Rutgers University and the frequency of such events continues to grow despite law enforcement’s effort to mitigate the risk of student vulnerability and safety. A significant problem is that there is no easy way for parents to make sure their child is safe, and more importantly, no way for them to find out if their child is in danger. In the event of an emergency, students may not always have the opportunity or foresight to contact their guardians right away. As a result, parents and family members often face unnecessary hassle when trying to find out if their loved ones are safe. In many cases, parents are not made aware that a crime has even occurred until much later afterward. Parents tend to encounter feelings of anxiety when the provided information pertaining their child is limited. They may often need to go out of their way to contact their child’s close friends or anyone they think might have information about their child. The process of making sure their child is safe can take a toll on the parents in an already alarming situation.

This is a serious concern faced by any parent who is disconnected from their child. If anything happens to a student, their guardians must be informed and preferably as soon as possible. In this day and age, practically everyone has their smartphone with them at all times, making it the perfect resource. The mobile applications that we utilize on a daily basis such as text messaging, maps, and various other alerts show us that we already have extremely advanced technology at our fingertips. This gives us the capability of staying in touch with someone. All that is needed is an application which can combine these features into one service. We want to create an application dedicated to providing instant and reliable information in the case of an emergency so families can have relief.

Solution:

In order to promote self-awareness and responsibility, we propose an application that will allow students to more actively participate in ensuring their own safety. RU Safe? will offer a variety of available campus resources for the student to contact in the event of an emergency, to the appropriate care for any situation. The app will also contain a brief emergency profile which stores any critical medical information about the user and keeps track of their current location, this information can be sent out whenever the user contacts emergency services. Additionally, to increase parental awareness of their child’s safety, emergency contacts will be notified if the user does not check into a destination on time and whenever emergency services are contacted. User privacy will be maintained whenever possible, if a student does not wish to trouble a parent with their whereabouts then they may choose to set alternate emergency contacts for more minor concerns. RU Safe? will be free of charge and available to all Rutgers students, it will maintain a simple and straightforward layout so as not to confuse users in times of distress and help students and their guardians alike to stay connected.