FORSSE, a new application for smartphones, connects users to a safety monitoring system.
Sophomore biology and African-American studies major Nnena Nwafor said she knows people who risk “walking home at 2 a.m. because the shuttle is taking too long, it’s crowded or both.”
But with cell phones that hardly ever leave students’ sides, there may be an alternative to walking home unguarded.
A new downloadable application for smartphones called FORSSE has been developed to help ease safety concerns.
FORSSE is a new application that connects you to a 24-hour call center and provides comfort to students who are embarking on late-night walks.
“I had the idea a little over a year ago – to take the blue light security phone technology and put it in a user’s mobile phone,” Brad Zotti, the developer of FORSSE, said. “[It would] take any GPS signal and connect it to campus security. The initial plan was to send the signal straight to campus security, but it has grown [to] cover a 24-hour call center.”
According to its press release, FORSSE is a “wireless technology service that transforms a mobile device into a real-time, monitored and concealed personal alarm service for those situations when safety is a concern.”
Zotti conducted a market research study to see if there was a need for software like this and said he realized it could provide a great service to students on college campuses.
“My main concern is safety [when looking for a house]. After that, everything will fall in place,” Lia Simon, a sophomore theater major, said.
FORSSE is meant to connect students who are in danger with campus security so that situations can be solved sooner rather than later.
“The application is free to download, but there is a fee for the subscription service, which creates a pin number and profile,” Zotti said. “The pin is used to activate or deactivate the alerts being sent and authenticates that it is you, and not the attacker, receiving or sending alerts.”
Alexandra Olivier can be reached at alexandra.olivier@temple.edu.
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