Underage drinking. Cars parked illegally. Threatening social situations. The nature of the real-time alerts that started rolling in to Virginia Commonwealth University’s police dispatch center this past fall—sometimes as many as five a day—surprised campus-safety officials.
Before, says John A. Venuti, police chief at the university since 2010, “I would never get those kinds of tips.” Even for smartphone-loving millennials, a suspicious-looking person doesn’t usually prompt a telephone call, according to Mr. Venuti.
But not only are he and his colleagues now fielding such tips, they are also receiving details that can prove critical to a response, including exact GPS locations, physical descriptions, and photographs of license plates.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: https://chronicle.com/article/Sophisticated-Mobile-Apps-Are/145151
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