New SCSU App Helps Students Stay Safe on Campus

ST. CLOUD -- A new St. Cloud State University mobile app is helping with safety and security on campus.

Safe@St.Cloud gives students access to campus departments. Jesse Cashman is the Assistant Vice President of Safety and Risk Management at St. Cloud State. He says the app also has some key features to help students get safely from point A to point B.

"A student can have their phone out and use the panic button and it actually goes right back to our dispatch. It provides our dispatch with their location and they can actually speak to us. It's an easier way to get a hold of safety and security rather than going to a mobile blue phone or dialing our number or 911."

For extra security, students can have a friend walk them home digitally.

"If you're walking from one place to another you can actually let a friend know where you are at and it kind of leaves little breadcrumbs on google maps. Your friend can watch you go from one area to another. Then when you reach that area you can hit the button and say you've made it there safely."

Cashman says the app isn't just for students either.

"We encourage visitors to download it because we have information about parking, events on campus and we run our Twitter feed along the top of it so you can find out all the updated events and things like that."

Safe@St.Cloud was created in collaboration with SCSU and the St. Cloud Police Department. So far the app has about 700 downloads and Cashman says the number continues to rise.

The app is free and available on both Google and Apple devices.