Model Safety and Glympse

There is also an app called Tokn:

http://www.toknapps.com/

This takes a different approach: it lets you identify a recipient who will receive a text message after a particular time if you do not check in with the app (or if your phone is dead).

There are other "lone worker" support apps and there's a charity, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, maintains an app directory:

http://www.suzylamplugh.org/Pages/Category/app-directory

They also offer advice for lone workers.

We use iOS' Find Friends app to keep tabs.

Isn't this scaremongering? I don't recall a single case of attempted or actual abduction of PP models.

Scaremongering of the highest order get a new script please this is getting really boring and insulting.

There are loads of apps that do this. A lot of new phones have SOS capabilities built in.

As others have said - this is scaremongering.

The vast majority of attacks on women are by family, friends or acquaintances NOT strangers.

So.. somebody tries to help and this is scaremongering... I wonder why I bother sometimes...

At no point have I gone: "ALL MODELS ARE IN DANGER.. PLEASE USE THIS APP".....

A couple of models I shot recently have stated they have had some interesting challenges in this industry especially around problematic shoots (and I didn't just target Purpleport, as there are other sites too).. 

But hey, because the "majority of attacks are by family, friends, and or acquiantances" I should not mention this for fear of "scaremongering".

Hold the phone.. photographer posts to help models safeguard themselves.... jheeze...

Edited by Jubei Kibagami

Edited by Jubei Kibagami

Ken P said

Isn't this scaremongering? I don't recall a single case of attempted or actual abduction of PP models.

I think that it isn't scaremongering to help people make sure that there never are any actual cases.

Most models already take some precautions when meeting strangers in unfamiliar places and if this type of app is helpful to some is some circumstances then I would think the suggestion useful.

I don't think it's scaremongering.. these things have happened in the past & though not on PP.. & it would be good to keep it that way.

People can become complacent and tools to help reassure are a good idea and may help calm a person feeling a little anxious about their safety ( don't do the shoot )

It is now second nature, since the 1970's for those old enough to remember.. to not leave bags unattended and to report them.. for good reason, it's not scaremongering.

So maybe an app or even a shared calendar, even easier, with someone you trust showing where you are intending to be & who with.. also including their name (could be fake) & telephone number (could be Pay as you go), PP / Facebook ID.. 

Glympse is great, use it with the kids when they go the shop etc...

Stolenfaces said

Ken P said

Isn't this scaremongering? I don't recall a single case of attempted or actual abduction of PP models.

I think that it isn't scaremongering to help people make sure that there never are any actual cases.

Most models already take some precautions when meeting strangers in unfamiliar places and if this type of app is helpful to some is some circumstances then I would think the suggestion useful.

Indeed. The real value of apps like these is that they enable people -- not just models -- to have the confidence to work alone, which isn't something that should be downplayed, I think (since by definition the confidence to work alone in a new field isn't something that can be easily conveyed by anyone else).

Besides the abduction thing there's the simple safety stuff. Not stranger danger, not kidnap danger, but "going somewhere potentially physically unsafe" -- urbexing, climbing a mountain, travelling a long distance alone, all that stuff.

If a model -- particularly a new model lacking their own experience to back up their judgement -- wants to allay their own safety concerns or those of others by arranging some lone-worker-safety provisions, I think it's a good idea, not least because they allow a family member/friend/partner to be absolutely routinely involved in safety without needing to be present, or even necessarily needing to be told each time. May cut back the need to text every half hour or whatever is otherwise arranged.

Lone worker safety tools are 'best practice' in other areas -- estate agents, travelling reps, all sorts.

Engineered safety is an area that mobile devices can help with in a way that becomes routine. It might even be possible to engineer things into PP that allow the details of booked shoots to be imported into lone worker apps through calendar feeds.

Once someone is up and running working by themselves, maybe they don't need it. But if I was employing someone working away from home alone in higher-risk situations on a regular basis, I'd consider it.

Edited by Ponderance

Paul - P4U said

It is now second nature, since the 1970's for those old enough to remember.. to not leave bags unattended and to report them.. for good reason, it's not scaremongering.

Not a single explosive device has been discovered that way. Instead we have had needless evacuations and station closures. Terrorism is called that for a reason. You terrorise without actually doing something.

Ponderance said

Indeed. The real value of apps like these is that they enable people -- not just models -- to have the confidence to work alone, which isn't something that should be downplayed, I think (since by definition the confidence to work alone in a new field isn't something that can be easily conveyed by anyone else).

 

Apps like this do only one thing, they replace healthy common sense. It creates an unrealistic and unwarranted sense of safety. Next we will be recommending hardhats and steel toecap boots for location shoots. If someone had serious criminal intent, then the first victim will be the model's mobile phone. Also it is delegating first line responsibility to third parties.

Ken P said

Paul - P4U said

It is now second nature, since the 1970's for those old enough to remember.. to not leave bags unattended and to report them.. for good reason, it's not scaremongering.

Not a single explosive device has been discovered that way.

Of course. But bringing to mind the old joke, that doesn't make bag checks elephant-repellant. Unattended bag awareness is exactly why so few bag bombs have gone off since the 1970s (and those that tragically did work were not unattended). It made unattended bags likely non-viable as a method because a bag is likely to be spotted before the bomber is clear of the area. They moved to putting bombs in bins, which has ultimately been made implausible in transport areas at least by redesigning bins but before then was made less possible by changing bin collection rotas and by random checks. 

Lone worker safety apps have potential to allow people to involve others in their safety in an unobtrusive, automatic way (and in a way that goes further than the mobile phone's underestimated impact in this space). Seems like a good idea to me.

Ken P said

Ponderance said

Indeed. The real value of apps like these is that they enable people -- not just models -- to have the confidence to work alone, which isn't something that should be downplayed, I think (since by definition the confidence to work alone in a new field isn't something that can be easily conveyed by anyone else).

 

 If someone had serious criminal intent, then the first victim will be the model's mobile phone. Also it is delegating first line responsibility to third parties.

Tokn -- the app I mentioned -- addresses the problem of a switched-off or destroyed phone (and so do several others). 

It is not delegating first line responsibility; that is the model/estate agent/urbexer/salesperson's responsibility still. It is providing an option for someone to seek second-line support; to use an application that will notify a safety agent, a friend, a colleague or employer.

OK, you'd prefer it if people didn't need this, and that's something we all wish. But these apps add something, they do not take it away.