America’s public safety infrastructure is staggering in scale. A nationwide 911 system, hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers, and billions spent on emergency response each year. And yet, texting or calling friends and family is what many women do when they feel unsafe. They don’t call the police – until situations become life-threatening.
It is a habit born of the reality that while the American public safety infrastructure is massive, it is, in large part, reactive. It responds to crimes in progress, not to a creeping sense of dread on a dark street or an unsettling interaction on the subway. Instead, women opt to text a friend when they feel uneasy. If they call 911 and are wrong, there is worry about wasting police resources or causing a scene. A text to a friend or family member that results in a false alarm won’t have as big an implication.
A study commissioned by LogicMark, Inc. (OTC:LGMK), a provider of personal emergency response systems and developer of the Aster safety app, found that 70% of women text or call family or friends to share their whereabouts when concerned about safety, and 50% share their location through smartphone apps.
Social Safety Falls Short
While sharing location or texting with friends and family may give women peace of mind, as a safety precaution, those methods tend to fall short. There’s no guarantee a friend or family member will even see the message — they may be asleep, away from their phone or have their phone on silent mode. And even if …
This post was originally published here