GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn – A new app gaining steam in Minnesota
is quickly garnering worldwide attention for a personal safety feature
allowing friends to virtually walk you home at night.
The Companion app was created by five University of Michigan students after they worried about walking alone late at night.
"Let's say you are leaving the library late at night and you
don't have anybody to walk home with. All you do is input your
destination, add a few contacts friends or family and Companion handles
the rest," said Lexie Ernst, a University of Michigan senior studying
business and computer science.
Ernst and her friends designed the app so the user can input a destination, share their walk with anyone in their contact list.
"So instantly on your friend's side they can see you walking
and if you go off route, don't make it home on time, or if you fall, or
your headphones get yanked out of your phone, instantly your contacts
are notified to check up on you," explained Ernst.
Ernst said some of the most unique features include an option that alerts your friends if you are nervous, or another option that instantly calls police.
Companion
will collect data to tell police where a greater presence is needed and
hopes to uncover crime patterns that can be curbed. The founders have
already partnered with the University of Michigan campus safety
department so the app can alert university safety officials. Ernst said
Companion hopes to expand partnerships with universities across the
United States.
"People feel this issue, an uneasy walk home, feeling
nervous at night, on a daily basis around the world, it's so important
to address it and to use technology to make the world a better place,"
said Ernst.
"Yes definitely, I would use it," said Kelly Murray, a University of
Minnesota sophomore who used a campus safety escort service for the
first time after a Gopher football game.
At the University of Minnesota, students return for the new
semester with safety top of mind, as the campus has battled an uptick in
crime in past years.
"I don't look at my phone, stay alert, look people in the eye to say I'm aware, I'm watching you," said Murray.
Concerns heighten after two male attackers violently robbed a
woman walking alone at night in Uptown Minneapolis just before 2 a.m.
on Sunday, Aug. 30, strangling her to unconsciousness. Minneapolis
Police caught images of two suspected attackers on surveillance video
using her stolen credit cards. As they search for the suspects, patrols
are boosted in the area of the crime, on the 2500 block of Aldrich
Avenue South.
In Michigan, Lexie Ernst hopes the Companion app is a tool
and safety net for anyone walking alone. She's tracking growing interest
from families with kids to those taking care of older generations.
"It tells us personal safety is an issue for everyone, all
demographics. It doesn't matter your age, your sex or where you are
from," said Ernst.
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