Missouri State University highlights upcoming safety app for students this year

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Missouri State University is set to launch a new 24/7 safety app to enhance campus security for students.

The app will allow students to quickly contact campus security, including the ability to make video calls to dispatchers, as part of the university's ongoing efforts to improve safety measures.

"We've been working on this last year," said Todd Revell, Associate Director of University Safety. "They can actually do a video call with more of our dispatchers. A lot of good features there."

In addition to the new app, Missouri State University has several existing safety features, including blue light telephones around parking lots for those without access to a phone.

The university also offers a safe exchange zone on campus for secure transactions, such as those conducted through Facebook Marketplace, under surveillance cameras.

Bike theft remains a significant issue on campus, prompting the university to require students to use new locks that are more resistant to theft.

Revell noted that while bike theft is a concern, the university has seen a decrease in sexual assault numbers due to increased education on safe practices.

Students like Senior Brookelynn Shell and Junior Ellie Bley have expressed feeling safe on campus,

"I work late; I work at the student union. I have about a ten-minute walk back to my place and I've never felt unsafe," said Shell.

"This is my third year here, and I've never run into a suspicious activity on campus," said Bley.

However, they suggest the university could improve awareness of the available safety features.

"Making sure everyone knows of that resource would do a lot to help everybody feel safe, not just on campus but in the surrounding area," said Shell.

Revell tells Ozarks First the new safety app is expected to launch this fall.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by OzarksFirst.com. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by OzarksFirst.com staff before being published.