“Make a report, make a difference.” 

That is the slogan for the new app Safe2Tell Colorado. After the deadly shooting massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School, threats at campuses nationwide have increased. A new app, called Safe2Tell, allows students to alert authorities about school threats anonymously.  Safe2Tell, created in Colorado, is meant for students, staff, and parents to submit anonymous tips if they see or hear something suspicious. Recently, the new app has witnessed a spike in reports.  

Since its inception in 2004, the app has helped with 2,641 youth who were thinking about suicide, anticipated 412 arranged assaults, and tended to 3,601 instances of tormenting, among many different occurrences. 

Many students believe that this new app can be beneficial to their safety, but other students think the opposite. “I don’t believe that it would make a difference. It’s just like a regular police report. It’s the same as telling a police officer. That doesn’t force them to do anything. I don’t believe that authorities would take it more seriously now that there is an app,” says Yenesis Serrano, a sophomore student at the Osceola County School for the Arts who recently downloaded the app. However, another sophomore student at the Osceola County School for the Arts by the name of Mohera Beason says “I think it would be good because it gives students a place to express something that could happen in their school without the fear of being snitched or targeted. It can also give them a sense of security to the people that may want to harm the school the fear of being caught. ”

Although not operating within Florida, the app seems to provide the necessary measures to prevent violence. Both of the aforementioned students agree that the app should be employed nationwide to truly test its effectiveness. The app is trying to provide youth and adults in Colorado communities and schools with the ability to both prevent and report violence or concerning behaviors by submitting a tip. Through these reports, as the app affirms, differences will be made.