campus safety and security

Rave Guardian is a free iOS and Android app that provides safety services to Purdue Fort Wayne employees and students.

The app provides the following tools to enhance campus safety:

• Emergency calls and safety tips—Call or provide tips (including photos) to campus safety about an unsafe situation on campus. Or call 911 directly from the app.
• Direct contact to friends or family—Import contacts into the Rave Guardian app to communicate directly with trusted contacts.
• Safety timer—If you’re heading out alone, you can set a safety timer. The app will automatically notify your contacts if your timer expires before you can disable it.
• Guard someone else—Receive safety notifications via the Rave Guardian app on behalf of others.
• Safety profile—Automatically share key information about yourself, including a photo and medical conditions or allergies, in case of an emergency.

Download the Rave Guardian app from the iOS App Store or Google Play.

Consult instructions for managing apps on your iOS or Android devices. For more assistance, contact your cell phone carrier.

Open Rave Guardian, click My Account at the bottom of the screen, and edit personal information.

The more information you provide, the more University Police will know if they need to assist you in an emergency. At a minimum, your address (home and school), your physical description, and a recent photo are great places to start. If you have a particular health issue or other personal safety concerns, you can include that information as well. It is up to you to decide what you want to provide.

PFW students, faculty, staff, alumni, and retirees with a pfw.edu email address can utilize the Rave Guardian app.

Profile data is stored privately and securely within Rave Mobile Safety’s redundant and geographically diverse databases. Your profile can be viewed by whomever you designate as a guardian when your timer expires or by campus police when you send a safety tip or you dial 911.

No. You can only be located if you have asked for help and Rave Guardian is only enabled when you choose to activate an alarm on your phone. Rave Guardian can allow your designated guardian to locate your approximate location when your timer expires, and it can allow University Police to locate your approximate location when you place a call to them. However, it cannot be used to locate you without your knowledge.

No. The Rave Guardian app will only report your location to University Police in the event of an emergency, if you have location services enabled on your device. Additionally, your designated guardian will only have access to your profile and location if a safety timer is set up with them as the recipient.

Anyone you desire can be assigned as a guardian within the app. Guardians do not have to be affiliated with PFW. You are in full control of this feature. It only works when you program it to.

If you have designated University Police as your guardian during that session, yes. The system only notifies your designated guardian. Your designated guardian has the option to contact University Police when a time expires, but that decision is at the discretion of your guardian.

The features of the app will work off campus; however, if you have an emergency at an off-campus location you should dial 911, or press the Call 911 button within the app. If you call campus police from the app and are not on campus, they will refer you to your local 911. Additionally, the tip feature is for campus locations only. If you send a tip that is not on campus, the case will be closed.

If you want your tip to be anonymous, it can be. When initiating a chat with campus officials or University Police, users will have the option to Go Anonymous. When this option is selected, campus officials and University Police will not receive any identifiable information when the chat is initiated. However, if the user is away from their device after an anonymous chat session is initiated, campus officials and University Police will not have means to contact the user outside of the app.

It is recommended that you allow notifications from Rave Guardian. This will alert you when your safety timer is about to run out, when you’ve received a response from University Police, or when someone has requested you as a guardian.