IH02-EshaDatta

From IEOR 170 Spring 2007

Campus Safety Aids

Target User Group

This is an issue that affects all university students, specifically those in urban campuses where the primary mode of transportation is walking. In particular, this issue mainly affects young college women. There are a variety of needs for this user group, including the need to feel secure, as well as the need to actually be secure. The user also has a need to be mobile around campus at night. In addition, there is a need to feel independent and cool while traversing the campus. Users also feel a need to be efficient and to avoid hassle in order to get to their destination as fast as possible.

Problem Description:

There is a market need for products aiding student safety on the Berkeley campus. Many students walk home after late night extracurricular activity and club meetings or on weekends from parties or clubs. While it is suggested to travel in groups at night, students may often find themselves in situations where they are the only one heading to a certain destination. Crime is an important issue at UC Berkeley, as well as in many other universities. In 2005, in the entire UC system, there were 21 rapes, 4 attempted rapes, 42 robberies, and 399 assaults reported. The picture below shows a map of crimes committed in Berkeley in the last year.

Technology could help in several aspects of this situation. In many cases, police are not alerted very quickly. It would be useful if the product could speed up the time between when the crime occurs and when the police hear about it. In addition, it would help to reduce the time for the police to get to the scene as well. Also, technology could help students find other students to walk with in groups at night. Technology could also be used to provide a sense of security and to allow them to feel independent and not be embarrassed by using a safety service.

Problem Context

There are several factors to consider when developing a solution for this problem. Crime in Berkeley usually occurs at night after the sun has set. While many crimes occur in the dark unlit areas in the center of campus, the majority of the crimes happen on the edge of campus near the main streets. The user group is fairly educated as virtually all are pursuing some type of higher education. The user group is primarily female and between the ages of eighteen and twenty six,

There are several products available that address these needs, but shortcomings exist as well. Mace keychains are available, but there have been some cases where these have been used against the victims or set off accidentally. Alarm keychains also can be set off accidentally. While the Bear Walk and the night shuttle are two very effective services, they also have their drawbacks. These services often simply go unused because young students entering college do not see the need for them since they have a feeling of invincibility or do not perceive the dangers and often believe that using services such as Bear Walk is not cool and too much of a hassle.

In the past few months, a new company called Rave Wireless has been developing technologies for college campuses. This company tackles a lot of issues including bus schedules, school information, laundry services, and campus safety. Their product works through a cellular phone alert, which tracks the student using GPS and contacts the police if the alert is not deactivated within a certain time and the student does not answer incoming calls.

Possible Solutions

Without doing any prior research, it is difficult to have an idea of what a good solution will be. There are many possible directions this project could take. For example, the product might be a keychain device that incorporates GPS tracking and sends a direct video feed through a camera to the police department when it is deployed. Currently there are emergency phones with blue lights located at various places around campus. One option is to create more sophisticated stations around campus which would be able to automatically log the location of the call and sense information about the student, perhaps through the use of RFID technology in student ID cards. A third option is to develop a social networking application for cellular phones which would allow students to find others walking home or in the same direction in real time so that students would be able to travel in groups.

References:

http://police.berkeley.edu/annual_report/2005/berkeley/program_highlights.html

http://www.incidentlog.com/lookup.pl

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/2006-08-27-campus-tech_x.htm