Top 5 apps: Improving street safety for women

The UK is facing an epidemic of violence against women. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), the proportion of women that reported feeling fairly or very unsafe walking home after dark has increased in recent years, rising from 57% in 2012/13 to 69% in 2019/20. 

The latest statistics show that two out of three women aged 16 to 34 years old have experienced one form of harassment in the previous 12 months; with 44% of women aged having experienced:

• Catcalls 
• Whistles 
• Unwanted sexual comments or jokes
• Being followed

In the wake of the rising level of threat to women safety, businesses and the Government have started making an increased effort to develop technology to improve street safety. 

As helping to make the world a safer place is our mission, we have put together a list of 5 of the best apps that have been developed to help women feel safer when out and about. 

1. WalkSafe

WalkSafe is the most popular app in the UK, with over 560,000 downloads since its launch in March 2021. WalkSafe’s unique selling point is a map that allows people to plan their safest route home by looking at recent crime data.

 Users can notify their friends and family while out and send an automatic notification when they have reached their destination. You can download the app from Apple Store and Google Play.  

2. Shake2Safety

Shake2Safety has been designed to allow users to notify emergency contacts in case of an emergency via message, location, photo, and audio. The app can also be used without WiFi when the user’s phone is locked or triggered by shaking the phone or clicking the unlock button four times. You can access the app on Google Play. 

3. Get Licensed

Get Licensed is the UK’s leading security training and staffing platform. The app is the ultimate SIA training companion. Security professionals can use the app to stay safe by accessing the latest training, refreshing their skills with access to free mock exams, and finding security jobs to get working. With the latest knowledge, skills, and information, security professionals can use the app to keep the general public safe. 

You can download the app on Google Play and Apple Store.  

4. bSafe App

Rich Larsen, the founder of bSafe app, believes his technology could bring about prosecutions. The app has an exclusive emergency alarm feature that is voice-activated, and it then automatically starts live-streaming video and audio to chosen contacts and records everything that happens. bSafe is available for download on Google Play, and Apple Store. 

5. Street safe

The Street safe app is an initiative of the Government Home Office, which allows women to anonymously flag up areas where they feel unsafe. Developers of the app say that certain areas can feel unsafe due to environmental issues, like poor lighting, abandoned buildings, vandalism, or behaviours, such as being followed or verbally abused. These factors may enable offenders to either commit or conceal a crime. 

When a user marks an area as unsafe, police will then be able to use the logged information to make improvements to unsafe areas, which could include installing CCTV, street lighting or introducing night-time patrol. 

With the ease of lockdown restrictions, it is even more important for women to feel safe at any time of the day. Therefore, these tools can perhaps make women and their loved ones feel a little less anxious while they are out alone. 

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If you’re on the hunt for a security job on the go, download the GuardPass app for all the latest jobs and more. The GuardPass App is available for download on the Apple App Store or on the Google Play Store.