AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — A few years ago, getting back from a friend’s region was no longer typically accompanied by a textual content allowing them to know you arrived domestic accurately, however, such texting has to turn out to be the norm.
These day’s it seems as though no region is immune from chance, and people are constantly searching out new and better approaches to keep themselves and their cherished ones secure.
Currently, the era is playing a big position in providing protection and so, ABC 7 took a look at how our telephones can provide some peace of mind.
“The app definitely assists you in understanding that your loved ones are watching and loved ones will respond for you if you couldn’t,” stated Noel Kersh. “I like to know in which my human beings are. I want to realize in which my children are, wherein my spouse is.”
The app Kersh’s own family uses is Life 360. It’s one of the most popular personal safety apps available proper now.
“It’s a location app and so at any given moment in time I can have a look at my Life 360 app and spot that both my youngsters are at their angle schools, my wife is at paintings, and I’m at my office,” said Kersh.
For those to your circle, the app also shows battery chances, lets in you to monitor riding behaviors, and set up perimeters.
“I set up a perimeter around my youngsters’ faculties, so if my teenage daughter makes a decision to leave inside the middle of the day, I’ll know approximately it,” defined Kersh.
The app also includes a crash indicator, and you have the potential to provide emergency assistance if necessary.
“Thankfully we haven’t had any incident wherein we’ve needed to offer emergency assistance to certainly one of our cherished ones, but in case that does arise, we are able to have the facts we need to help scientific personnel and get to our cherished ones,” stated Kersh.
Life 360 is just one of many apps available and a few universities are even growing their very own apps to enhance pupil protection.
One of these universities is Canyon’s very own West Texas A&M.
“This app, it essentially puts the records at their fingertips, and they can get the provider speedy, effectively, and they may make use of the carrier,” stated Robert Byrd, assistant police chief with the university police branch.
The app changed into a joint venture among UPD and the college’s IT department. UPD stated what functions they wanted to be included, and the IT department set to work.
Included within the app is a tab with all touch facts for UPD, an area to submit crime recommendations and file dangers, and there’s a map of campus.
“We had some of these services in place for a while and we felt they weren’t being applied as well as they can be and probably due to the fact we didn’t have an clean way to do it,” said Byrd.
The app will with a bit of luck drop in the app shop in the subsequent couple weeks.
“You never know while emergencies will arise. So you could simply download it, have it for your phone simply in a case and if an emergency comes up, UPD is multiple taps away,” said Eyoel Mengesha, a member of WT’s IT Department.
In addition to being a dad, Kersh is a digital forensics examiner. He informed ABC 7 that apps like Life 360 in addition to basic GPS data, can assist in court cases and investigations.
“So an example in which we used this kind of facts changed into a murder case and a suspect that claimed he wasn’t within the vicinity while particular activities befell. But we have been able to get his smartphone and display that his smartphone at the least become precisely in the region at exactly the time the crime happened, and even tracking the times following wherein he went returned to the scene of the crime,” explained Kersh.
It also helped one of the company’s customers show his innocence.
“For us, it’s a tool of justice truly and justice works both methods. It places guilty people in prison and units innocent people unfastened,” said Kersh.
While technology has superior to present us these protection functions, increasingly humans are involved approximately privateness.
“For this visibility, for my family to look where I’m at and for me to look in which they may be at, there’s a price,” said Kersh.
And in a digital world, privacy can be tough to return through.
“It’s something that anyone has to make that selection for themselves,” said Kersh. “Are they cozy setting that information accessible approximately in which they’re and wherein their loved ones are? But there are definitely benefits to taking that step.”
Whether you are in on the spot problem, get separated from friends all through a night out, or get lost – having an app on your phone can reduce your threat and bring assist when wished.