Blue Light amps up security options for students with smartphones

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Many college campuses have a Blue Light phone system. It lets students get directly in touch with security if they feel threatened or unsafe. Now, the new BlueLight app is about to do the same thing with your smartphone.

Blue Light safety phones can be found all over Marquette's campus, picking up the receiver will direct you straight to the university's public safety office, but those phones were installed long before people starting carrying a cell phone.

"We just wanted to give students options," said Tim Cigelske, Marquette Director of social media.

So Marquette now offers the BlueLight app. If you're on campus and you activate the app, it will immediately contact the university's public safety office. It also gives law enforcement your exact location.

"Being able to get that information to the officers in a timely fashion is going to allow them to respond quicker to a certain situation," said Paul Mascari, Chief of Marquette's Public Safety.

It's bringing safety to the student's fingertips.

"It just sounds like a good tool overall to I think it's always important to offer as many tools as possible for students -- especially when it concerns safety," said Sarah Barber, student.

Barber hasn't used the app and hopes to never have to but is glad to have the option.

"Majority of the time my phone is right here in my pocket so I think personally that's the most effective tool I'd feel like I had at the moment," said Barber.

The app also works off campus -- if activated while off campus it will call 911. The app is free for android users, it will be available on IOS very soon.

If your phone gets stolen or the battery is dead, the original Blue Light phone system isn't going anywhere. The phone system will still work and connect you directly to public safety.