Brock University Students Union has launched a BlackBerry and Android apps to make it easier to connect with campus security.
Brock University Students Union has launched a BlackBerry and Android apps to make it easier to connect with campus security.
Brock University Students’ Union has come up with a way to make the campus safer.
There’s now an app for that.
The students’ union (BUSU) has launched a free app for BlackBerry and Android users – one for the iPhone is also in the works – that will connect staff and students directly with Campus Security.
The simple, one-step connection via a smart phone to the men and women patrolling the campus eliminates the cumbersome process of dialing the University’s 10-digit phone number, waiting for the automated attendant and then punching in Campus Security’s four-digit extension, 3200.
“I asked around the office to see if anyone knew how to dial campus security in an emergency and nobody knows,” said Luke Speers, BUSU vice-president of finance and administration.
Scan this QR code to download the Campus Security Hotline app.
Another way to connect with Campus Security is by dialing extension 3200 using an on-campus payphone. There are also 106 emergency phones on campus that directly connect with Campus Security.
With the app, one click prompts a giant red button with a phone receiver to appear, which Android users simply touch to activate a call while BlackBerry users connect using their track pad.
The app works anywhere but, Speers warned, it only connects with Campus Security.
“It’s not a substitute for 911,” he said. “This is for on-campus issues that happen.”
The app, called Campus Security Hotline, can be downloaded from Android and BlackBerry app stores. Posters are also appearing throughout campus and on buses with QR codes that connect directly to the app for downloading.
QR code decals will also be affixed to Campus Security vehicles to download the app as well, Speers said.
