Higher Education: Campus Safety & Security for the Modern Institution
A Unified Platform. Modular Deployment. Real Results.
Your campus is a bustling small city, comprised of academic buildings, residence halls, outdoor spaces, international travelers, event venues, and more. Yet, unlike a city, your resources are limited. You face all the same risks, including medical emergencies, active threats, lone workers, remote travel, and crowds at major events, but you often don’t have the right tools or enough responders in place to address this range of risks.
That is why SafeZone® by CriticalArc brings a unified solution built specifically for higher education, allowing you to replace complexity with clarity and do more with less. We combine everything into a single platform while offering a modular, bite-sized approach, so you can adopt what you need now, expand when you are ready, and move forward with expert guidance, proven templates, and support at every stage of your journey.
SafeZone is a unified campus safety, security, and duty-of-care platform that helps universities manage incidents, send emergency communications, and coordinate faster responses across campus, events, and global travel—from a single command center.
Jim Moore, Senior Executive Consultant, CriticalArc, U.S. Department of Education (Ret.)
“Too often, in my government career, I saw education leaders were only ready to act after the ‘unimaginable’ happened. So many of those conversations started with some version of ‘I never thought this could happen here.’ This all too familiar refrain is a clarion call, a warning that should ignite a renewed sense of urgency, knowing that we have more mass casualty incidents annually in America than there are days in the year.
“I have told many college presidents what I truly believe: educating future leaders is their Job 1A. Job 1B is ensuring that their students get the chance to change the world with their minds and bodies intact. Everything else matters less. Yet, deferred investment in safety tends to slip down the list of priorities, especially when budgets are tight and wish lists are long. To presidents, cabinet members, and boards of trustees, I have this advice to share…Do not be distracted. Safety cannot wait.“
Why Universities Choose SafeZone
Trusted by Leading Institutions
SafeZone® by CriticalArc is trusted by many of the world’s leading universities to support the safety, wellbeing, and day-to-day operations of millions of students and staff worldwide. Working in close partnership with our clients, we deliver more than technology. We bring proven higher education–specific expertise that helps institutions coordinate responses across campus security, wellbeing, and operational teams. SafeZone connects people to the right support, at the right time, through user-activated alerts and real-time incident coordination, enabling faster, more effective responses while respecting privacy and trust. Used for everything from everyday assistance and lone worker protection to critical incidents, SafeZone delivers measurable improvements in engagement, response times, and outcomes, strengthening confidence, experience, and retention across campus communities. Hear directly from some of our clients here.
One Platform for Coordinated Campus Safety
From within your campus boundaries to travel abroad, from large events to everyday wellbeing support, SafeZone consolidates your strategic safety management and communications systems into one powerful, efficient platform. You can keep the current systems you like, and can take a phased, integrated approach that gives your team one trusted command center.
Modular, Scalable and Consultative
We understand every institution is different. We assess your risks, your campus structure, and your travel footprint to design a tailored solution, embedding our consulting expertise alongside your people, processes, and technology. You launch with the high-priority modules you need, then scale as you’re ready, keeping your growth path aligned with your budget and timeline.
Intentional & Programmatic Rollouts
Launch SafeZone with a structured, scalable rollout approach that drives adoption across campus. Enable cross-department alignment without disruption and sustain long-term engagement through proven implementation support.
Did you know ?
University public safety and security leaders report a 50% or greater reduction in their response times to incidents, after the deployment and use of SafeZone.
Our Four Tenets of Campus Safety
Real-Time Coordination & Response
Seconds count. With real time location sharing, live team dispatch, mass notifications, and incident coordination, your safety teams act faster, more precisely, and with complete situational awareness.
Safety Everywhere
Wherever students, staff and visitors go—indoors, outdoors, off-campus, or abroad—SafeZone gives them the ability to call for help, report concerns or reach support at a touch.
Operational Insights
With heat maps, patrol tracking, and post incident reports, you can see exactly where you are strong, where you are vulnerable, and how you can optimize your resources.
Unified Solution
Replace silos. One platform, one interface, one data source. Your security, safety, wellbeing, emergency management, and travel support teams all operate within the same ecosystem, making your budgets go further and your decision making clearer.
Product Categories & Use Cases
SafeZone Command
OmniGuard Mobile
SafeZone Mobile
Emergency Coordination & Response
Whether it is a medical incident, a weather event, or a security threat, SafeZone enables your team to respond rapidly with precise data on who needs help, where they are, and how to reach them.
Campus Policing & Security Operations
Support patrol activity, lone officer safety, live dispatch coordination, and real-time situational awareness without adding complexity to frontline workflows.
Event Management & Crowd Safety
Managing move-in, graduation ceremonies, sporting events, or large-scale gatherings? SafeZone provides real time coordination, incident management, and communication across all teams.
Mass Communications & Emergency Notifications
Deliver urgent messages across push notifications, SMS, email, voice, desktop alerts, and CAP feeds. SafeZone provides robust mass comms capabilities with integration-friendly tools that fit into your existing ecosystem.
Geo-Fenced Alerts & Location-Based Messaging
Configure different SafeZones across campus for different needs, from Clery geography to event-specific boundaries. Send targeted messages when people enter defined areas like stadiums, residence halls, or restricted zones.
Operational Command, Asset Coordination, & Heatmapping
Give dispatch and supervisors real-time visibility with SafeZone Command and OmniGuard mobile. Use heatmaps and coordination tools to deploy resources faster and reduce response time through better situational awareness.
Secure Incident Chat & Real-Time Collaboration
Coordinate response with secure, encrypted chat that keeps all communications tied to the incident. Add or remove participants instantly and replace fragmented messaging across consumer apps and informal channels.
BLE & Campus Infrastructure Integration
Leverage existing wireless access points and Bluetooth Low Energy capabilities to enhance location awareness. Build on your current investments while expanding visibility and precision indoors.
Playback Studio for Training, Compliance, & After-Action Review
Support continuous improvement with playback and reporting tools that enable learning and accountability. Strengthen compliance, document outcomes, and improve response readiness over time.
Dispersed Command & Control
Enable coordinated response across multiple campuses, departments, or remote teams. SafeZone provides a unified operational picture so leaders can manage incidents effectively — wherever they are based.
Duress Mode
When a situation escalates but discreet action is critical, Duress Mode allows users to silently raise an alert while sharing live location and key context with responders.
Real-Time Alerts
Instantly notify targeted groups or your entire campus during emergencies or disruptions. SafeZone delivers fast, reliable alerts with acknowledgment tracking to ensure messages are received and understood.
First Responder Field Coordination
Equip frontline teams with live incident updates, precise location data, and seamless dispatch support to improve response times and maintain operational awareness in the field.
Secondary Responder Coordination
Mobilize facilities, wellbeing, housing, or executive teams with structured tasking and real-time updates, ensuring the right support functions are engaged as incidents evolve.
Team Communication
Strengthen collaboration with secure, role-based messaging and group coordination tools that keep safety, security, and support teams connected at all times.
Personal Safety Tools
Empower your community with one touch panic alerts, mobile app access, and satellite device compatibility for remote areas. Safety is delivered wherever your people are.
Compliance, Wellbeing & Duty of Care
Meet your institutional obligations, strengthen your wellbeing services, support mental health, and enable tip reporting for maintenance or safety concerns.
International Travel & Study Abroad
Extend your duty of care beyond local boundaries. SafeZone keeps track of students and staff overseas with personal safety tools, location awareness, and global support.
Lone Worker Safety & Check-In Timers
Protect staff working alone or in high-risk roles with timed check-ins, escalation workflows, and easy access to help. Ideal for facilities teams, patrols, student staff, and anyone working in isolated areas.
Mental Health Crisis Support & Wellbeing Escalations
As mental health needs rise, make it simple for students to reach the right support quickly. SafeZone provides a clear, straightforward path to help during a crisis, without requiring users to navigate multiple resources.
Anonymous Tip Reporting & Concern Routing
Enable your community to submit tips and concerns in a structured, configurable way. Route reports based on category, location, time of day, or department so the right team can act fast.
SafeTransit, Safety Walks, & After-Hours Support
Support safe rides, safety walks, and nighttime assistance with public and private request views. Improve visibility and coordination for both dispatch teams and frontline responders.
SafeZone Alliance & Mutual Support Beyond Campus
Join a supportive network of institutions that extends protection beyond your boundaries. When students or staff travel, visit neighboring campuses, or work remotely, nearby Alliance teams can provide local assistance while your institution remains notified and in control.
The Impact: What You Will Gain
Faster Response Times
Institutions report 50 percent or more reduction in response times when using SafeZone. You will know who called, where, and why in seconds, while simultaneously coordinating and communicating with those responders in the field who can provide the fastest response possible.
More Efficient Operations
Replace multiple legacy systems with one force multiplier platform. Enable your team to do more even while budgets shrink.
Stronger Student Experience & Retention
SafeZone not only protects, but it enhances the student experience. When students and families see that you take safety seriously, you gain an edge in recruitment, satisfaction, and retention.
Demonstrated Duty of Care & Institutional Protection
Show your stakeholders and your community that you are prepared, proactive, and on the front foot. Reduce escalation risks and protect brand reputation.
Leadership Confidence, Governance, & Reduced Liability
Give leadership teams clear evidence of preparedness and accountability. Reduce institutional liability and risk, support demonstrable governance, and align departments without restructuring. Provide credible reporting and documentation for boards, insurers, and regulators.
Next Step: Partner with Safety Experts
You do not have to manage the growing complexity of campus safety alone.
CriticalArc partners with executive leadership, Chiefs of Police, security, wellbeing and emergency management teams to align people, process, and technology into one cohesive safety strategy.
Whether you begin with real-time coordination and response or personal safety and duress today, or scale to full event management and operational intelligence tomorrow, SafeZone meets your institution where it is and grows with you.
Request a demo to see how SafeZone can become one of your institution’s strongest operational assets, because campus safety is everyone’s responsibility, and with the right platform, it can be everyone’s strength.
