To provide additional ways for our campus community to contact us quickly for help during emergencies, the WVU Police Department has added a new panic alarm to the LiveSafe app, which is now available to all users on the Morgantown Campus.
Located on the app’s homepage, LiveSafe users can activate the panic alarm with two taps. To activate, select “Panic Alarm” and then “Activate.”
The user’s name, contact information and location will be sent to UPD, and a police officer will immediately be dispatched to the user’s location. If the user moves, their location will update automatically.
While the officer is traveling to the incident, a UPD dispatcher will contact the user through LiveSafe’s two-way messaging to gather more information, including information on the incident, the status of the individuals involved and a more exact location, like floor, room number, etc. If the dispatcher does not receive a response from the user through the app, they may attempt to contact them through the phone number or email stored in their LiveSafe account.
It is extremely important that the user responds to these messages so UPD officers are equipped with sufficient information on the incident and its location and can respond efficiently and effectively.
Because all calls are directed to UPD, LiveSafe users should only use the panic alarm when an incident occurs on campus. For incidents off campus or anywhere outside of Morgantown, please dial 911 so the appropriate local law enforcement agency can be dispatched.
If the panic alarm is activated off campus, UPD dispatchers will work to contact the appropriate local law enforcement agency or 911 center.
UPD will investigate the possibility of implementing the LiveSafe panic alarm for WVU Institute of Technology and WVU Potomac State College at a later date.
The LiveSafe app is available to download in the App Store or Google Play. In addition to the panic alarm feature, the LiveSafe app allows students, faculty and staff to communicate directly and discreetly with UPD through text, photo, video and audio, and lets you virtually walk your friends and family home with SafeWalk.
The UPD team also offers a variety of trainings so you can feel prepared for any incident, including active shooter training to learn how to respond if you are in danger and what to expect when law enforcement is on the scene, and verbal de-escalation training to learn how to successfully mitigate tense situations.
To learn more about UPD, visit our website. To receive alerts about emergencies and incidents on or near campus, register for the WVU Alert system.