Security app for vulnerable women
Published
Tuesday 21 May, 2024
Updated
Sunday 16 June, 2024
Our Safer Streets project is focusing on combatting violence against women and girls, alongside general anti-social behaviour, in the town centres of Sheerness and Sittingbourne
In order for the most vulnerable women and girls in our communities to feel safer we helped local domestic abuse charities provide them with a subscription to a personal safety app.
Safer Streets paid for 65 annual subscriptions of the Hollie Guard app which local charities SATEDA, Newleaf and Clarion have provided to the women and girls they work with.
The app acts as a secure and discrete personal alarm and deterrent which can monitor a user’s location, planned routes and meeting times.
It can then raise an alert with emergency contacts and, with these paid subscriptions, will alert a monitoring centre if the user doesn't confirm they’re safe or if they don’t arrive at their planned destination.
Providing the Hollie Guard app, for free, helps these vulnerable women and girls feel more secure, with the reassurance that there is someone checking they’re safe 24/7.
These charities do amazing and important work to support victims of domestic abuse and funding the Hollie Guard subscriptions has helped them in that mission.
Our partners
The CEO of SATEDA, Carey Philpott, welcomed the initiative which she felt would help women feel safer, and thanked us for our support to end violence against women and girls.
She said: “We provide services to women who, are at times, at serious risk of harm and we recognise how tools including the Hollie Guard app can help to increase feeling of safety and provide a mechanism for recording evidence.”
New Leaf Support Domestic Abuse Service’s CEO Amanda Walker explained that they felt privileged to be part of our Safer Streets campaign.
Adding that: “New Leaf Support is using the enhanced Hollie Guard app for our vulnerable clients to help them feel safer in the community and at home.”
The IDVA Service Manager at Clarion, Sally Notridge, explained that as Kent County Council's commissioned servivce they provide support and advice to residents of Swale Experiencing domestic abuse.
Explaining: "we are delighted to be able to offer the Advanced Hollie Guard App to our most vulnerable clients.
“This opportunity will allow us to enhance the safety planning and safeguarding that we already provide.
“The additional features in the enhanced app will empower our clients and promote their independence.”
Funding for the campaign came from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund, after we – through the Community Safety Partnership – worked with the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner to successfully bid for the funding.
