LiveSafe App

Benefits

• Report Tips. Share information, tips, and safety concerns with the Emerson College Police Department (ECPD) via text messaging, including picture, video, and audio attachments, or even via live chat. Stay anonymous anytime or send your user information and location to ECPD as soon as you call or message, allowing faster response times.
• Safety Map. View a Safety Map that displays useful safety resources and campus information.
• Summon Help. Easy access to call or message ECPD.
• SafeWalk. Travel safely using SafeWalk, a GPS-tagged monitoring feature, to let your friends and family keep you virtually covered until you arrive safely at your destination.
• Access Resources. Easy-to-find information about safety and emergency preparedness resources.
• Notifications. Receive Emerson Alert emergency notifications through the LiveSafe app as well as supplemental emergency check-in notifications.

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FAQ

How could someone use this app in an emergency?

So long as users have the capacity to make voice calls, we encourage anyone in an emergency to always call 911. If, however, a user is unable to make a direct call due to situational or technical issues, or if they must be discrete, then users may “Message Emerson College Police” and start live two-way chat with ECPD. Additionally, when the Emergency button is used to dial 911, dial ECPD, or message ECPD, location services are enabled to help emergency personnel find your location.

What kind of information should I report?

Emerson College students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to use the LiveSafe app to communicate with ECPD about any issues, concerns, or questions related to campus safety and security.

Who receives my reports and information?

Information submitted is monitored 24/7 by ECPD. In case further information on any report is required, ECPD will follow up and live chat with the user.

What if a report I send turns out to be a mistake?

Users will not be penalized for making claims that turn out to be untrue. So long as reports are not purposefully false, people are encouraged to share information.

Does LiveSafe replace 911?

No. Dial 911 or contact ECPD at 617-824-8888 when faced with an emergency. The aim of the LiveSafe app is to provide a new channel to report suspicious activity or non-emergency information and crimes to ECPD.

If in an emergency situation (on or off campus), users can access LiveSafe's 911 distress button. When calling 911 using LiveSafe, ECPD will receive greater information and intelligence in order to provide assistance faster. ECPD will receive the caller’s GPS coordinates and emergency contact information, ensuring that the department responds more efficiently and quickly.

Does LiveSafe replace Emerson Alert?

No. Emerson Alert is the College’s primary emergency notification system. LiveSafe allows Emerson Alerts to be broadcast over the LiveSafe app, providing another avenue to reach Emerson community members in an emergency situation.

LiveSafe also has a check-in notification feature, which allows users to check in with Emerson College safety officials and indicate if they are OK or need help following an emergency situation. Emerson College safety officials will initiate a check-in notification; however, if you need to request help and a check-in notification has not been sent, use the Report Tips or Emergency Options or dial 911.

How does the LiveSafe Check-In work?

During emergency situations, Emerson College safety officials can send out a notification to Emerson College LiveSafe users, asking them to indicate if they are OK or need help.

Emerson College safety officials will initiate the check-in by sending a notification via SMS text, email, and/or push notification to the LiveSafe app. Open the link or open the app and indicate if you are OK or need help. Emerson College safety officials will be able to determine your location if you have Location Services enabled and contact you via your LiveSafe profile information. You must also enable Push Notifications on the app in order to receive a LiveSafe check-in.

Emerson College safety officials will initiate a check-in notification; however, if you need to request help and a check-in notification has not been sent, use the Report Tips or Emergency Options or dial 911.

If I download LiveSafe, can Emerson College safety officials or law enforcement see my location whenever they want? 

No. When you submit a tip, your current location is only submitted once and is attached to that tip—tracking is not enabled. However, when you use the Emergency button, your location is tracked until you stop location tracking within the Emergency button screen.

Why do I need to fill out a user profile after downloading LiveSafe?

Filling out the user profile will help ECPD contact you if additional information is needed after you submit a tip. If you use the Emergency Options button to contact ECPD, they will have immediate access to your name and contact information. This is imperative in emergency situations if you lose connection with ECPD or if your identity is needed because you are in distress.

How does the anonymous feature work?

Users can send tips using the anonymous feature if they are not comfortable with disclosing their identity. ECPD will not be able to see who the report is coming from if this feature is activated by the user. If ECPD uses the Live Chat feature to obtain additional information, you will still appear as anonymous.

When I first download LiveSafe, why is the app asking to access my contacts?

The app will ask to access your contacts so you can easily add friends and family members to your LiveSafe contact list. This list is used for the SafeWalk feature.

Do I need to enable location services for LiveSafe for the app to work?

Yes. In order for the location-dependent features to work (SafeWalk, tip submittal, location tracking during emergency calls and messages, and for check-in notifications), LiveSafe needs to be able to access your location. You will not be actively tracked when the app is not in use and when you are using non-location-dependent features.

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Walkthroughs

How to Use SafeWalk

SafeWalk lets you invite up to three friends, family members or colleagues to virtually walk or drive with you. Share your location information and let them actively follow your progress on a map or choose standby mode to notify them only if you don’t reach your destination within the expected time.

1. From the LiveSafe home screen, tap the SafeWalk icon in the middle of the bottom navigation bar.
2. To share your location with a contact, select “Ask friends to watch me walk” (tap “Watch a friend walk” if you want to request to see a contact’s location).
3. If you are sharing your location, type in a destination at the top of the screen. You can change this any time by tapping the pin icon.
4. To invite a contact, tap the add contact button and search. You can invite up to three people in one SafeWalk. Tap “Invite now” if you want your contact(s) to be active participants or tap “Not now” to keep them on standby.
5. Select your transportation mode: walking (default) or driving. By tapping on the corresponding icon, your ETA will automatically be adjusted. Manually add or subtract time to your ETA by tapping the “-1” or “+1” buttons.
6. Hands-free smart alerts are sent to your contact(s) if you don’t arrive at your intended destination by the estimated time of arrival, when you have arrived, or have summoned help.

How to Report Tips

See something? Say something with LiveSafe’s Report Tips. From safety hazards to concerns about suspicious activity, help keep Emerson College safe by quickly connecting with Emerson College safety officials. 

1. On the LiveSafe home screen, tap “Report Tips” and select the tip type you want to submit.
2. Enter in the information you want to share. Add photos, video clips, or audio files by tapping on the corresponding icon.
3. To send the tip without your name or contact information, tap the “Send anonymously” slider.
4. Tap “Send” to submit your tip. You can start a chat to share more info or return home.

How to Use Emergency Options

Knowing who to connect to for help is essential to staying safe, regardless of where you happen to be.

1. On the LiveSafe home screen, tap “Emergency Options”.
2. Regardless of where you are, use the “Call 911” button to immediately connect with the closest 911 dispatch center. This automatically updates to display and call international emergency numbers based on your location.
3. Call Emerson College Police is programmed with the Emerson College Police Department emergency number: 617-824-8888. Message Emerson College Police enables you to send a discrete chat directly to Emerson College Police. Emerson College Police can chat back to ensure you are okay.

Note: Enabling any of these options will initiate location sharing with Emerson College safety officials. You can turn this off by tapping the blue bar labeled "Tap here to stop sharing your location".

How to Use Check-In

During emergencies, seconds count. LiveSafe’s check-in feature enables you to quickly touch base with Emerson College safety officials via a real-time prompt so you can quickly indicate if you are okay or need help.

1. Emerson College safety officials will initiate the check-in by sending a prompt via SMS text, email, and/ or push notification.
2. Open the link provided (for SMS text and email) or tap the notification bubble (for push notification). You can also find it within the app’s inbox in the bottom navigation bar.
3. Tap “I need help” if you need immediate assistance. Emerson College safety officials will be able to determine your location if you have location services enabled and can contact you via your LiveSafe profile info. Tap “I’m OK” if you are currently safe and do not need assistance.

Note: In order to receive check-in notifications, access to your location needs to be set to Always in your phone settings for the LiveSafe app. 

If you need to request help from safety officials and a check-in prompt has not been sent, use Report Tips or Emergency Options.

How to Use the Safety Map

Staying aware of your surroundings is one of the key steps to staying safe, regardless of where you are. The Safety Map enables you to quickly see where you are and what’s around you in both familiar and new locales.

1. On the LiveSafe home screen, tap on Resources and then on “Safety Map” to open a map of your current location.
2. Regardless of where you are, the map will populate with nearby Safety Places—like police stations and hospitals—as well as important Emerson College places.
3. Tap a map pin to pull up directions to that place from your current location.
4. Control what places you see on the Safety Map—like published reports, Safety Places, and organization areas of interest—by tapping the layers button.