Loyola University Police Department introduced a new campus safety app during the university’s Night Out Against Crime.

Students, faculty and staff will be able to download the new free app, Rave Guardian. The app has three functions — contacting university police, contacting the nearest police department and contacting specified contacts.

The first function serves as a direct, immediate connection to university police utilizing GPS location.

Patrick Bailey, Chief of University Police, said that anyone on either one of Loyola’s campuses or within a mile radius around the area can use the app and university police will be able to respond.

“Rave Guardian will GPS the location where you are at so we’ll be able to get an officer there to tell us what’s going on,” Bailey said.

The second function will call the local police department in your area.

“Say you are in the French Quarter and you hit the 911 button, it is going to go to New Orleans Police, so it will be wherever you are at. Even if you are home, it will go to the 911 number in your area,” Bailey said.

For the third function, specified guardians will be contacted at set times.

Users can set two contacts as guardians on the app. Users can set a Rave Guardian Timer so that the guardians, along with university police, will have the ability to check in on the user and see if they are safe at specified times.

Once time expires and the timer is not deactivated, Rave Guardian will contact the user’s guardians by order of preference to check in on the individual.

If the second contact does not respond, a notice will be sent to university police where they will have the ability to call the user to check on his or her safety.

Sarah Willey, international development sophomore, said that she thinks the app is a good precautionary measure but doesn’t think it will make any difference in security.

“I would not download this app. The app would be giving a false sense of security,” Wiley said. “You put responsibility on other people to look out for you. Many things could potentially go wrong and it would feed paranoia.”

Caitlyn Cordano, theater sophomore, said she thinks the app is a good idea and that it can be beneficial.

“I would definitely download this app,” Cordano said. “We are in a city where a lot of bad things can happen. I think it will be really helpful for when you are in a bad situation.”

Rave Guardian is available for download from the App Store for iPhone users Google Play store for Android users.