Corps Security is giving all its female employees free personal security protection to keep them safe following the tragic death of Sarah Everard and a rise in concern around women’s safety. More than 300 people employed by Corps Security across the UK – including office-based and front-line officers – will be provided with the Corps Guard app for free. All Corps employees’ families are provided with the service at cost price if they want it.
The Corps Guard app can be downloaded onto any smartphone and provides support when people feel unsafe or in the event of an emergency. It’s particularly useful for people travelling at anti-social hours, when they’re alone or entering a potentially unsafe area. The tool complements Corps’ existing lone worker security support and is ideal for people’s personal use in the evenings and at weekends.
The Corps Guard app is activated prior to an individual starting a journey or putting themselves in a situation where they feel unsafe. A signal is transmitted to the Corps Monitoring Centre in Glasgow and highly-trained operators begin tracking the person’s movements.
Should the individual feel in danger or under duress at any time, simply shaking or tapping their smartphone or pressing their Corps Guard Bluetooth wristband instantaneously sends an alert to the Corps Monitoring Centre and designated emergency contacts. The alert page has a tracking facility that displays an exact GPS location which is refreshed every 45 seconds so all emergency contacts can follow their movements.
Depending on the type of the alert, the monitoring centre will either attempt to contact the person to determine their situation, contact the nearest member of the security team if the user is on site, or if the evidence suggests a threat to life, contact the local police.
The user’s mobile phone automatically sends audio and video footage to the Corps Monitoring Centre so they have full exposure to anything that happens. This footage can be used to identify an assailant and used in a court of law. The audio-visual recording is uploaded automatically to the user’s account via the cloud and onto Corps Monitoring Centre’s system, so even if the phone is stolen or damaged, the evidence is always accessible.
“Looking after our people is our main aim at Corps Security – it’s the reason we were set up over 160 years ago,” said Mike Bullock, CEO of Corps Security. “Giving the Corps Guard app to our people, and their families, will give them an extra layer of reassurance that we are there to help them when they may need us most.”
