As over half of LMU students live off campus in Westchester, Playa Del Rey, or farther for commuter students, the discussion of student safety gains even more importance. For many students living alone for the first time, navigating a new neighborhood can be daunting. However, the resurgence of neighborhood apps, such as Citizen, claim to increase this feeling of safety. But how beneficial are these apps to students?
Citizen is an app that alerts users when crime takes place in their respective areas. The app tracks the user’s current location and takes events reported directly from 911 calls, notifying users of emergencies in live time. Users are even encouraged to upload photos or videos of the event if on the scene.
Although providing live-time updates, the app only notifies users of a fraction of 911 calls reported. Currently, the app is able to notify users of COVID-19 contact tracing, as well as other information such as road closures or natural emergencies.
With such easy access to live information, Citizen has become increasingly popular with young students–especially with those living off campus. Junior Ursa Casem, a student living in a townhouse in Playa Del Rey with one other roommate, has had Citizen downloaded for a few years.
“I use it more here in LA than at home,” Casem said. “I have my notifications on, so I get a lot of notifications throughout the day and I do keep an eye on them and if it intrigues me then I press the notification, but it is really helpful.”
Along with Casem, Senior Philosophy Lecturer David Kovacs acknowledges the potential benefits of Citizen, especially for very specific users. Kovacs’ philosophy classes tend to occasionally focus on criminology, an area of interest for Kovacs. “Certainly you can see lots of people for whom it’ll be beneficial, if you’ve been a victim of crime, if you’re suffering anxiety disorders, by all means this app can be very very helpful,” Kovacs said.
While students may feel some sense of security from such a timely app, the app can also create a sense of paranoia in users through constant notifications. Users may feel bombarded with unsavory events, touching on the aspects of the app that may cause stress and anxiety.
Junior Breea Toomey currently lives in the Westchester neighborhood with two other roommates, and has had some experience with Citizen. “I had the app a while ago, but I deleted it after a few weeks,” she said. “It just kind of made me anxious. I kept getting stuff like ‘burglary 0.3 miles away.’ I guess it’s good information to know, but not all the time, not for me.”
Along with more individual impacts of Citizen on students’ sense of safety, Kovacs asks important questions about the impact of Citizen’s growing popularity on a more macro level. Because of the app’s popularity with students, Kovac brings into the discussion the difference between the use of this app for students in low income neighborhoods.
“In most places in the country, if students live off campus, they tend to live in more affordable areas, places that are a little more economically disadvantaged, places where there may be higher crime,” Kovacs said. “Even though the students are pretty safe, and schools have ways of making sure some apartments are pretty safe. I think that adds another layer to the app and how it’s used.”
Student demand for the app could increase in areas with higher crime rates. While students living in more affordable areas may respond differently to Citizen, the app ultimately appears to pose more questions than answer them. If Citizen continues to grow in popularity, the impact of constant information could have lasting impacts.
“Is this going to change the landscapes of neighborhoods where students can live?” Kovacs wondered. “Is it going to make it so students can’t go into neighborhoods where they can afford to live? Is it going to put economic pressure on students as a result? These things tend to have unintended consequences.”
As the app relies on users to contribute to the timely updates on crime, the question of reliability comes into play. The concept of constant surveillance on crime, available to the public, reveals more questions on the impact of access to so much information, especially for younger generations. This influx of information may alter the way they respond to current situations, even outside of crime in their area.
“I think that all of society is at least a generation away from knowing how to navigate a world where information is constant,” Kovacs said. “It’s going to take us a while to know what to look at, when to look at it, [and] how to interpret it.”
