In short, new ASP products must make a positive contribution to the profession, while meeting or exceeding our high standards of design, quality and reliability.

While some campuses are phasing out emergency telephone systems, others are adding them. They add an extra layer of safety that parents like seeing and they serve a functional safety purpose.

One of the most valuable aspects of a blue light phone is its ability to increase the awareness of on-campus security measurements.

According to stats compiled by Axon, there were 27,300 crimes reported on postsecondary education campuses over the course of 2019 and 2020, or almost 19 crimes per 10,000 students. These include assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, among others. To help deter these incidents, many campuses in the United States employ the use of blue emergency phones (also known as emergency blue light phones or blue light boxes).

While blue emergency phones became ubiquitous as a result of rising college crime, UC Irvine’s list provides an important reminder that these devices can also be used in non-criminal scenarios like fires, car accidents and life-threatening medical emergencies.

It has become an unwritten requirement for college campuses to have a blue light phone system. Per the U.S. Department of Justice’s Special Report on Campus Law Enforcement, 100% of private schools (15,000+ students) have a blue light phone system as well as 92% of all university campuses. See the breakdown of college campuses in the chart below.

ASP spends a significant percentage of its revenues on research and development, design, prototyping, lab testing and field testing. In order to make it to market and wear our brand, a product must reflect what we call “ASP DNA”

Campus dwellers should use these phones without hesitation if they feel like they’re in danger. UC Irvine lists a few examples in its emergency blue light phone guidelines:

Blue Light Phone technology and our Rauland Telecenter U® School Alert System integrate with other safety and security surveillance systems to provide high protection and immediate response systems to ensure optimized student, faculty, and visitor safety.

For nearly fifty years, ASP has had a single-minded focus on providing law enforcement officers with the finest tools for the safe performance of their duties, and industry-leading training in the use of those tools. Every day, professionals in over 100 countries trust our products and training with their lives—so they can’t afford less than the very best.