Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can I still call 911 or Campus Public Safety if I have an emergency while I am on campus?

A. Yes, definitely. Campus Guardian is an additional feature. It is the only personal security service that can automatically notify Campus Public Safety when you call 911 or Campus Public Safety from your mobile phone. Campus Guardian uses its patented software technology to monitor your mobile phone and immediately notify Campus Public Safety that you have called for help.

Q. Why would I need to notify Campus Public Safety if I call them?

A. Campus Guardian provides additional information to assist Public Safety in handling your call for help. It shows your location on a campus map, creates a description of that location to convey to responding officers, shows the locations of officers relative to your location and provides details about you, including your phone number, your description, your picture (if permitted) and any medical or special concerns that would help Public Safety to assist you more effectively.

Q. When I turn on the Campus Guardian Service on my mobile phone, can Public Safety or anyone else track me?

A. No! Your location is never transmitted to Public Safety unless you initiate an emergency call to 911 or to Campus Public Safety, or press a PANIC button. A visible indication on your phone clearly shows when your locations are being transmitted.

Q. Does the Campus Guardian software work on all cell phones?

A. Campus Guardian software only works on certain models of mobile phones provided by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel. Please see the list of mobile phones that can run this software at http://www.campusguardian.com/phones.html.

Q. Can someone else purchase the Campus Guardian service for me?

A. Yes. However, you must provide information about your phone and school identification to them so that they can create your account and enter other data necessary for the service to be registered to run on your mobile phone. You will need to login to the Campus Guardian website to complete the registration and verification process. See the Subscription page on the Campus Guardian website for details of what information is needed to subscribe.

Q. How do I get the software into my cell phone?

A. After you have purchased a subscription to the Service, a message will be sent to your mobile phone and to your email with a link to the Campus Guardian software download site. When you click on this link on your phone, it will start downloading and installing the software, which you must approve. You will be given an option to Run the software. If you do so, you will be asked to confirm that you allow the software to 1) use the network, 2) send data and 3) use your GPS receiver. If you allow all three, the software will be installed and a Campus Guardian icon will appear on your phone (usually in “My Applications”).

Q. Does Campus Guardian record my emergency call conversation with 911 or Public Safety?

A. No. If you call 911, your call is recorded by the 911 authority. Federal law prohibits all others from recording, divulging or interfering with your verbal conversation with 911 or recording your voice call to Public Safety unless you are immediately informed that your call is being recorded.

Q. Does the Campus Guardian service work off-campus?

A. The behavior of Campus Guardian is different outside of your school's coverage area. It can still be used to “speed dial” 911, but it does not notify Campus Public Safety and does not report locations. Your school determines the locations and specific areas and locations around campus that are monitored by Public Safety. Please review your school's service coverage map at: http://www.campusguardian.com/schools.html.

Q. Can the university require me to use the Campus Guardian service even if I don't want to?

A. No.

Q. If I subscribe to the service and switch my wireless carrier during my contract term, do I have to pay for the service again?

A. No. As long as you have selected a wireless carrier and model of mobile phone that is supported, your registration can be transferred to your new phone, which will allow you to use the remaining time left on your subscription contract. Please contact Campus Guardian support (support@campusguardian.com) for assistance in transferring your account. Provide your first name, last name, school name, student/employee ID, cell phone number, new carrier name, new phone manufacturer and new phone model. You will receive an e-mail notification when the transfer has been completed. If additional information is required, Campus Guardian personnel will contact you.

Q. If I get a new phone and stay with the same carrier, how do I transfer my Campus Guardian subscription to the new phone?

A. As long as you have selected a model of mobile phone that is supported, your registration can be transferred to your new phone, which will allow you to use the remaining time left on your subscription contract. Please contact Campus Guardian support (support@campusguardian.com) for assistance in transferring your account. Provide your first name, last name, school name, student/employee ID, cell phone number, new phone manufacturer and new phone model. You will receive an e-mail notification when the transfer has been completed. If additional information is required, Campus Guardian personnel will contact you.

Q. If I change my cell phone number, how do I transfer my Campus Guardian subscription?

A. First, update your cell phone registration information at your school so that it matches your new number. Then, please contact Campus Guardian support (support@campusguardian.com) for assistance in transferring your account. Provide your first name, last name, school name, student/employee ID, old cell phone number, new cell phone number, carrier, phone manufacturer and phone model. You will receive an e-mail notification when the transfer has been completed. If additional information is required, Campus Guardian personnel will contact you.

Q. Can I call 911 and still have the Campus Guardian service notify Campus Public Safety that I am in trouble?

A. Yes. Campus Guardian uses its patented technology to provide the only personal security system that can detect that you have made a 911 call and simultaneously notify Campus Public Safety while you are making your emergency call. This parallel notification process can provide an immediate response to your call from both 911 and Campus Public safety, as well as providing Campus Public Safety with additional information about your emergency that can be provided to 911 responders that may not otherwise be available to 911 responders.

Q. I know that most GPS systems don't map out actual roadways and walkways on college campuses. How will 911 and public first responders know where to find me?

A. When you call 911 with Campus Guardian active, Campus Public Safety will receive detailed location information from Campus Guardian that they can provide to the 911 responders. Campus Guardian provides Campus Public Safety with enhanced campus maps that show campus features, such as buildings, fields, roads, parking lots, etc. and uses these to describe your location.

Q. My school has blue lights, why should I subscribe to Campus Guardian?

A. While blue light systems can be effective, they have two significant weaknesses: first, you need to be near enough (and able to reach) a blue light to trigger an alarm; second, you must stay in the vicinity of the blue light because Campus Public Safety will not be able to locate you if you move away from the blue light phone from which you made the call. With Campus Guardian, you carry your “blue light phone” with you, and with the GPS tracking, Campus Public Safety can continue to see where you are, even if you are moving.

Q. What if I accidentally trigger the Campus Guardian Panic button on my cell phone?

A. Your phone will immediately notify Campus Public Safety of your location. However, your phone will not automatically place a voice call to 911 or Public Safety until you click another button on your phone to activate the call. You should immediately cancel this emergency call option if you have selected 911 as your calling option (please consult your User's Guide for your mobile phone before you begin using the Campus Guardian Service) and then place a call to Campus Public Safety to notify them that you have generated an alarm in error.

Q. Will the Campus Guardian software prevent me from using other software on my mobile phone? (This is a problematic question. While the answer is no, the real issue is that we do not want to promote or endorse the use of their phone while the subscriber is or may be in a challenging personal safety situation. Running other software on their phone will distract them and could delay or prevent the successful use of the CG service in the event of a personal emergency. We may want to use this question in our “Top 10 Safety Guidelines” list.

A. No, but please read and carefully review the (Campus Safety web link) which…. No, but only one program can use the screen at keypad at one time. Therefore, the Campus Guardian Emergency Locator (CEL) program must be the “active” program at the time of an emergency. If another program is “active”, the PANIC buttons will not be available and any phone number that is dialed (e.g. 911 or Campus Public Safety) will not be visible to CEL, so it will be necessary to make CEL active in order to make the PANIC buttons available or detect any phone number dialed.

Q. After I activate an alarm, do I have to stay at that location until help arrives?

A. No. Campus Guardian will continue to report your position to Campus Public Safety 3-4 times per minute when an alarm is active. The track of these locations and will indicate on the map in Public Safety that you are moving, the direction you are moving and how quickly you are moving, so that officers can be guided to you, even if you are moving to a safer location.

Q. Does GPS work inside a building?

A. GPS does not work well inside many buildings. It is sometimes possible to determine your location inside, but often it is not. Campus Guardian provides clear indications on your phone display if it is able to determine your location, using both colors and text. If Campus Guardian was running prior to entering the building and had determined your location, the last 3 valid locations recorded in your phone will be transmitted to Campus Public Safety if you activate an alarm inside the building, to help them get close to your location. The time of each location report is provided to Public Safety to assist them in knowing how current the information is. These locations are recorded on your phone only when Campus Guardian is running and are sent to Campus Public Safety only if you activate an alarm.

Q. Can I activate an alarm if my GPS receiver isn't able to provide a location to Campus Guardian?

A. Yes. Campus Guardian will continue attempting to determine your location and will report it as soon as it is available. In these cases, it is desirable to proceed and place the call to 911 or Campus Public Safety to verbally describe your location so that they can begin to respond and not have to wait for the GPS receiver to determine your location. Depending on your location, it may not be possible for your phone's GPS receiver to determine your location. If the display does not indicate that you have a valid location (valid location is indicated by “L+” in the header text), Campus Public Safety will not know where you are unless you tell them verbally. Additional information about you and any special medical or other emergency considerations will still be provided to Campus Public Safety and officers will still be shown and guided to the location that you described using the Campus Guardian map.

Q. How accurate are the GPS locations?

A. Accuracy will vary with phone and environment. A GPS receiver determines your location based on radio signals from satellites in space. In most open areas and with most phones built recently, locations are frequently accurate to within 20 feet. In areas where satellite signals are blocked or when severe weather degrades the satellite signals, the location accuracy is degraded. Campus Guardian displays the accuracy information on the Public Safety map to clearly indicate the area in which you may be found so that officers know when they need to look in a larger area. This location information is the same information used by 911.

Q. I can dial 911 and they can get my location, so why do I need Campus Guardian?

A. Campus Guardian can get help to you much faster than 911 can, because:

• Campus Guardian acquires location information in advance of an alarm and has the GPS receiver operating so that an alarm message is sent to Campus Public Safety immediately.
• Your alarm information is immediately displayed on a map in Campus Public Safety that shows all of the elements of your campus, including roads, buildings, fields, parking lots, etc. and Campus Guardian knows about these objects. Often, 911 is only provided with the GPS coordinates reported by your phone and the nearest street address of your location, not your actual location.
• Campus Guardian immediately notifies all officers with Campus Guardian officer software running that there is an alarm on campus. With a mouse click, the dispatcher notifies an officer to respond and your location appears on the officer's phone.
• The officers are familiar with the campus and immediately understand the location description and know how to get there.
• All of these things happen in a fraction of the time required for a call to 911 to go through, be answered, your location determined, the correct local police/fire department to be notified and for them to drive to campus.
• Additional information that you provide to Campus Guardian, such as medical information that may be important in an emergency, is made available to Campus Public Safety when you activate an alarm.

Q. How does the 911 agency feel about Campus Guardian?

A. Campus Guardian Corporation has been working closely with Rhode Island's 911 Agency and they have been very supportive of this program.

Q. Are local police and fire using this system, also?

A. Discussions are underway with local emergency responders about how they can benefit from Campus Guardian and a more direct link is likely in the near future.

Q. Can others access my information?

A. Your information is only disclosed to emergency responders and only when you activate an alarm through Campus Guardian Emergency Locator.