Review: Guardly Will Change What You Think About 911

As you know, I am always looking for cool security products to talk to you about. About a week ago, I started a conversation with Josh Sookman via LinkedIn about his mobile application called Guardly. According to the company's web site, Guardly is "a platform for emergency communication that changes the way mobile personal safety is delivered. Smartphone users that find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities as well as their own personal safety networks in a single tap. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency."  The company was founded in August 2010 and its mobile application is available for download on Windows, Android, Blackberry, and iTunes.

So how does Guardly separate itself from competitors that in my opinion, failed miserably. It stands out on the information it provides to dispatchers and emergency contacts. Most companies who attempt to do what Guardly has done will at a bare minimum only provide maybe a GPS location and will often limit how many people you can notify. According to Mr. Sookman, "Within 5 seconds, Guardly can provide information like who is involved, what is going on (type of emergency) and where the emergency is." if you've ever been in an emergency dispatch center or an actual emergency situation, you know how critical timing is with getting this type of information. As they say, "The sooner the better." On college campuses who used the application they noticed an overall reduction in response time by 44%, according to a case study published by the company. Vicki Brown, Director, Campus Services Security at OCAD University says, "Our partnership with Guardly enables the University to extend the reach of its emergency phones on campus by putting a virtual emergency phone onto smartphones carried by students. It also enables us to track changes to the location of an emergency in real-time and communicate with the victim and his/her responding safety network throughout the incident until resolved." 

Guardly can also provide information like alert history which according to Mr. Sookman, is useful in situations like harassment or domestic abuse. This is information other jurisdictions may not have, particularly if the original agency is in the private sector. Guardly enables the original agency to forward the intel it has on a particular emergency via its Enterprise platform. Of course, as a personal download choice on your mobile phone, there won't be an alert history to share.

A few days ago, I wrote a piece on duress situations and how important it was to have duress switches in areas where the interaction between suspect and victim take place. Guardly does this as well. Once you tap the Guardly icon, it counts down from a preset number while vibrating each second and automatically sends out an alert. Depending on your preference, it can be set to automatically call 911 and your emergency contacts or just your contacts. Guardly also used what Sookman termed "geofences" which in essence are geographical boundaries. Guardly enterprise customers set up "geofences" around their respective properties on a map and when alerts come through in their fence they receive a "status update". If the institution is sending first responders like security or in-house medical and the caller escalates the emergency to a 911 call center that sends an outside agency to respond, the customer is alerted and can send the caller's alert history and profile data to the 911 dispatcher.

Initial screen you see when you tap the Guardly app

I found setting up Guardly was extremely easy. You fill out some very basic information, followed by certain health information like blood type or any other known medical information. It will also ask for your addresses (home and work), email, and backup numbers. You will need to provide information on your contacts like name, cell phone number, and email. I recommend cell phone numbers for contacts because Guardly can also send texts to them as well. What I found interesting was that it warns users to alert your contacts that you've made them emergency contacts. I got at least three emails from people asking what the service was (Guardly will send them an email to confirm that you have added them as a contact). I did this to see if my contacts would in fact get an email.

What is unique, on both its personal and enterprise platforms, are its emergency contact groups. In my opinion, this is where Guardly makes its most notable departure from its rivals. You can create groups depending on the types of emergencies you expect to encounter like food allergies, stalking, abuse, etc. I have one set for work emergencies.  Once an alert has been sent out, your contacts can then join a conference call about your emergency with you and the dispatcher using the infrastructure from your cellular provider through Guardly.

Typical Guardly collaboration screen

Did I mention you can even send a photo to the dispatcher or your emergency contacts? It will allow you to send an instant message from your phone to the dispatcher. This, of course, is available only on its Enterprise platforms. Mr. Sookman informed me they have customers ranging from campus police, corporate security elements, real estate agencies, and private security firms. A visit to their web site is a testimony to the success they've had with these entities. LeFrancis Arnold, President, California Association of Realtors says, "With criminal attacks against realtors on the rise and the prevalent usage of smartphones by realtors,it was a natural fit to equip our members with Guardly as a tool to stay safe...We encourage members to take advantage of this technology and to share it with family, friends, and clients." Mr. Sookman told me there has been "some expressed interest" by municipalities in the United States and Canada.

Given my experiences with this application, I would HIGHLY recommend any agency who deals with emergency situations to take a serious look into Guardly.

To learn more about Guardly and how it can benefit you or your organization, click on the link below:

http://www.guardly.com

Top 8 Coolest Android Apps For Security Professionals

As a security professional, I recognize that I am in a niche career field.  With regards to being in a small but growing industry, I'm forever discovering the small amounts of electronic tools to aid me in my professional endeavors.  Even worse, I have an Android smartphone.  If you've Googled anything having to do with apps or web sites that have tools for our industry, you already know iTunes has a significant portion of quality products.  I'm no quitter and I like to think outside of the box.  Over the course of this year, I discovered several apps that have just the right tools needed in this job.

1. First and foremost is the note-taking app - Evernote.  This app when paired with an existing account through their site enables you to take notes, record audio, tag your location, and attach pictures and other documents.  Whether you're in an investigator or a physical security planner in the field, this app is perfect.
 Click here to learn more.

2.  Next up is EvidenceCam. This app will - stamp your GPS coordinates, date/time, and address where you're located as well as include a "Notes" tab to add user notes regarding the photos captured. This app is great for investigators who take photos for evidentiary reasons. Here's an actual shot from EvidenceCam.  Click here to learn more.

3.  FloorPlan Creator is perhaps one of my favorites.  It allows you to use your camera and through "augmented reality" create a virtual floor plan of just about any room.Check out the video below to get an idea how it works or click this link to download.

4.  News360 is a news app which takes your interests and compiles news based on them. Awesome for those times when you need a single place to go for your news.  Here are some if its features I enjoy the most.

• More than 30,000 sources, from the top national news providers, to local and niche sites and blogs
• The Home feed - stories from the day’s headline news and your specific interests are merged together into a single stream, so that you don’t have to jump between sources and topics to avoid missing anything important 
• A flexible and smart personalization system, so that you can tailor your news however you want, by choosing the topics, sources, companies and people you want to follow, and News360 will pick up on the nuances of your interests as you read 
• Synchronize your interests and saved stories with News360 on your phone or at news360.com 
• Local news using your tablet’s GPS

Click here to learn more.

5.  Ever been out in the field or at your desk trying to determine how a particular vehicle looked?  If you're in the field doing an interview or doing a statement, it can be quite frustrating to rely on a description by a witness or your own recollection possibly hours later.  There's an app to help you accurately identify vehicles called The Patrolman's Vehicle Guide.  According the app's description section, 

"The Vehicle Identification System (V.I.S.) is the only Patrolman’s vehicle guide that’s made by police officers for use by fellow officers. It’s perfect for law enforcement officials to use on the streets, for pinning down vehicle information when interviewing victims and witnesses, or to help determine or rule out suspect vehicles in an investigation. This app works great for security officers on patrol, too.

Inside this application, there is an extensive image database of almost every make and model of vehicle released in the past decade. It’s fast, easy to use, and can cut out a lot of time and legwork from the investigation process, which may mean the difference between solving the case or having it go cold."

To learn more click here.


6.  Remember me blabbing about Evernote earlier?  Well, give me a second to talk incessantly about PolicePad.  Those of us who have done security operations or law enforcement know how hard it is to take professional and legible notes while you're in the field.  Notepads have pages that can be torn or lost.  As luck would have it, something happens where your have to right a report with accurate times, location, people, and dates.  PolicePad does all of that and a bit more.  Click here to learn more.


7.  Okay.  There are "cool apps" and then there are COOL apps.  SmartTools is definitely the latter.  It is an all-in-one measuring tool app.  Through the use of the tech available through your phone, it can determine length, angle, slope, level, thread, distance, height, width, area, compass, metal, sound level, and vibration. It also comes with a flashlight and a magnifier. I told you it was awesome. Click here to learn more.



8.  Let's face it folks.  We meet some interesting people in some very challenging situations.  A prudent security professional realizes any interaction with possible threats can escalate very quickly and has a plan to mitigate the risk from that happening.  One tool I recommend is Guardly.  It's a duress alarm/emergency notification/safety app.  According to the app's description section,

"Out of the box, Guardly comes packed with a free service that allows you to reach everyone in your safety groups by one-way emergency alerts, which include your location, group name and other information that can help them reach you.

Guardly’s premium service instantly connects you to a multi-party conference call, private and secure instant messaging session and real-time location tracking throughout the span of your call for help."

To learn more about Guardly, click here.  Stay tuned because we'll have more details in the very near future about Guardly.  For now just take our word for it, this is an awesome app.



Folks, this list isn't all-inclusive but I think these apps have been extremely helpful to me in my professional endeavors.  Take this opportunity to look them over and let me know if you have some others you'd like to see added.

Not all flashlights are created equal....

Other than working from your home and talking about your passion in life, the biggest perk of this job is product review.  Sure, I love bragging to all of my military buddies that I work in my pajamas in between  my son's naps and my marathon reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  However, this past month, courtesy of the good folks from Victory Defense, I have had the honor and privilege of reviewing one of the coolest flashlights I've ever come across.  In 10 years of service to my country, I have come across some cool flashlights that have everything from "DNA extractors" to strobe effects to disorient non-compliant subjects.  So what makes the LumenCam so special?

In addition to making dark places bright, it also functions as video recording device.  That's right, folks.  It's a camera and a flashlight.  I know what you're thinking - what a gimmicky product to sell.  I have to admit when I first saw it, the thought did cross my mind.  But there are some things about this flashlight that are hard to ignore.  Here are a few:

1. It's waterproof.
2. It records video and sound.  Why is this useful?  The video can be transferred from the flashlight to a computer and preserved for evidence.  It can also be used to give a first-person view during training after-action reviews.  Can you imagine if every member of a S.W.A.T. team were equipped with one of these during a critical incident in which loss of life occurred?  What if your security personnel were required to have these during their rounds?  If you have an incident where they need to respond, this flashlight could mean the difference between a costly civil suit with consequent punitive damages and a successful motion to dismiss.
3. It has a USB port to transfer data from the flashlight to a computer.
4. It's extremely durable.  Other than being made completely of metal, it has a grated surface to prevent slipping due to moisture.
5. It has a rechargeable lithium battery.  All I have to say is "Holy Long Battery Life".  In a test to see if it would hold up as advertised, my two year old son left it on for THREE hours and it was still holding a charge!!!  ATTENTION FUTURE COMPANIES I WISH TO SOLICIT LATER FOR PRODUCTS TO REVIEW:  My son isn't involved in all product testing.  However, I feel if a two year old can break it, then you have some issues.  If my two year old can operate it, then your product rocks.
6. It's dummy proof - almost.  The operations of the flashlight are pretty standard and thus extremely easy to do.  Don't believe me?  Check out the data sheet below.  However, the transferring of files may be a bit too much of an exercise for some of the less technologically savvy of our security and law enforcement brethren.  
7. Video recording is seamless and the memory storage is pretty decent (4G).  I had zero issues with recording video and audio.  You could hear a whisper two to four arm lengths away.  The video was easily playable and required no special drivers or plug-ins.
8. The light has phase brightness.  I affectionately called these "bright" and "really freaking bright".  I'm sure there's a much more technical and possible professional way of saying that but you get the idea.  It's your standard brightness you'd expect from a tactical light with brightness for near and far objects.

Did I like everything about the camera?  To be honest, I only had a few things I would change:

1. I would like the flashlight to be somewhat smaller.  This is a great light if you have the kind of duty gear that has the ring you can attach standard police flashlights to.  If you don't, then you have to carry this in your hands the whole time you're on-scene.  A smaller light allows for the ability to have the light tucked in or recessed somewhere on your person (i.e. a pocket, inside your belt line, inside a pouch).
2. The price was a bit much for a rookie to purchase right away.  This is where I believe the smaller size would be helpful.  You may lose some memory storage capacity but you would also be lowering the price and increasing your market share.
3. If they do make a smaller size, place a trigger button on the bottom of the light if possible.  Having the light switch on the top could be counter-intuitive for some operators who have gotten use to tactical lights with triggers on the bottom.
4. Make it what I call "rail adaptable".  It seems like every light you see these days looks like you can mount on a rifle or your pistol.  I'm not a fan of lights on pistols but I would like to see this in a much smaller size on tactical carbine.

All in all I really, really, really like this flashlight.  While I wasn't too impressed with its illumination, I loved how easily you could go from having no video to having full video recording.  I also enjoyed how easy it was to operate.  I hate picking up someone's latest and greatest in security tech and realizing its too gimmicky or complicated for the "guy on the ground" to operate effectively from day one.  I like tech that I can give a new guy on his first day without me having to teach him a full-on course.  This product is almost too simple.

You can say I didn't become really impressed with the LumenCam until after I finished reviewing it.  You see I live in a house with a two year old little boy who loves to bang, drop, drag, throw, drown, drench, punch, kick, bite, and bend anything he gets his hands on.  For a solid month, I've had this flashlight and watched in utter amazement as my son did all of those things and more with this light.

Conclusion:  If you have a little bit of cash and want to invest in something that's going to last and possibly be the only thing in your arsenal capable of telling things the way they really happened, drop by the folks at Victory Defense and get the LumenCam.  Believe me, it's worth it.

Looking to buy one, the wonderful people at Victory Defense are the ones to get it from.  Check it out here or at .http://www.victorydefense.com/shop/index.cfm?productID=8653.

Here's a fact sheet about the Lumen Cam:

LumenCam Data Sheet

Really, really excited....

Sorry, it's been so long folks but I've been a bit busy this week.  For starters, my request to test and evaluate products sold by Victory Defense was granted and we'll be taking a look at a few gadgets with security applications.  One such gadget is a tactical flashlight with video and audio recording capability!  Now, do you see why I'm so excited? Secondly, we'll have articles about behavioral video analytics versus rules-based analytics.  If you've been following my Twitter feed, you probably noticed I was quite curious about the difference between the two and what failures behavioral analysis has.  I'm going to attempt to get a hold of someone at BRS Labs the company on the forefront of behavioral analytics to discuss this more.  We'll also have a commentary on what I perceive to be the most prevalent source of failure in any security program.  I conducted a poll on LinkedIn about a month ago regarding this very issue and the responses I got were quite surprising and enlightening in many respects.  Finally, I also hope to have an interview with an Executive Protection agent to discuss their journey into the field, the types of projects they've done, and where they see this subsection of our industry going.  As an added bonus, I'll be publishing a video on last week's topic on proper ways to search/inspect bags in a security environment.  As you can see, I've been a bit busy getting content.  It is my goal to move towards more original content.   So stay tuned and welcome back to The Security Dialogue.

Time for a Product Review - IronKey

Let me say I was a bit skeptical at first. But one day, while listening to my favorite podcast - SecurityNow, I became intrigued by IronKey. If you know me, then you know "intrigued" usually me spending hours on Google learning as much as I can before I put down the cash to buy anything. I did just that.

I'm avid user of encryption so I have a slightly above basic understanding of how encryption works. Looking into the product, my first impression was that it was just another USB drive with the software on it. Nope. This thing has the encryption on its RAM chip - embedded. To say the least, I was impressed. The casing is almost indestructible without destroying the chips inside. It even has an aluminum backing which you use to engrave you signature in pen - very thin overcoat. It also has a serial number.

To make it sound even cooler - would you believe this thing has a self-destruct sequence? I'm not talking about Mission Impossible countdowns, but it only gives you ten tries to guess the wrong passphrase and then it destroys your data to include the encryption making the drive useless. I love this thing. I HIGHLY recommend this product. Did I forget to mention that IronKey also has its own TOR router with FireFox preloaded? Very cool!