Oklahoma State University Launches Free Campus Safety App

The "Orange Shield" app enables students to reach police almost immediately through their smart phones.

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(TNS) -- President Burns Hargis met informally with students Monday as the 2015-16 academic year began at Oklahoma State University. Hargis had officially welcomed the class of 2019 to campus Friday at Freshman Convocation in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

"It's fantastic to have you here," he told the second-largest freshman class in OSU history.

Enrollment is still open, but as of Monday, the freshman class stood at nearly 4,200. That is second only to 2012, when 4,289 freshmen enrolled.

Total enrollment was about 25,800 Monday. That includes students from all 50 states and more than 120 countries.

Hargis said the class of 2019 is a diverse group, with more minority students than ever before at 30 percent.

Two-thirds of the freshmen come from Oklahoma, and 18.3 percent are first-generation college students.

Nearly 16 percent had a 4.0 high school grade point average and 332 were class valedictorians.

The OSU Police Department has introduced a free app to enhance personal safety on the Stillwater campus, Chief Mike Robinson said.

Orange Shield enables students to reach police almost immediately through their smart phones.

“OSU is a safe campus and this app offers even greater safety by helping students, employees and visitors take control of their own safety while on our campus,” Robinson said. “Orange Shield literally puts an emergency or blue phone in the hands of anyone with a smart phone.”

The safety app, developed by 911 Cellular, connects the user to the proper 911 center and provides the user’s location. The dispatcher can forward the information to first responders.

The app has several other features, Robinson said.

Users can send texts, photos and videos directly to OSU police and the reports can be made anonymously.

They can summon a Safe Walk escort to accompany them across campus or within Greek housing between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. Or they can designate a group of friends to receive notifications if the user fails to check in after a certain period of time.

Each user must also create a personal profile with important medical information that will automatically be available if an emergency call is activated.

OSU officials are encouraging Cowboy fans to download the app to make it simpler for them to contact police and other safety resources while attending an OSU athletic event.

Information on access and using Orange Shield is at safety.okstate.edu. The app also is available through the Apple App Store and Google Play.

©2015 The Oklahoman Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


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