Electronic ‘Buddy’ to boost child safety
Published: July 7, 2006
A YORKSHIRE charity whose aim is to “beat the bullies” has launched a new personal protection device which it says represents a major step forward in child safety.
Bullying Online has teamed up with fellow Yorkshire-based organisation Buddy Alert Systems to develop the BestBuddy personal alert system.
Using bluetooth mobile technology and GPS satellite systems, users carry a small device the size of a key fob which, when activated, sends a location-tracing signal to a central computer network.
An alert signal is then forwarded to the parent or carer together with information about where the alert was sent from – allowing parents to trace their children. [The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander : From Preschool to High School–How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence]
The new system was given an official launch in Harrogate where the charity and the company are based.
Guests at the launch included Katie Vogel, a young singer/songwriter from London who has recorded a fund-raising single for the charity.
Mark Roberts, managing director of Buddy Safety Systems, said: “When we first spoke to discuss how we could work together, our desire to offer a low-cost, not-for-profit product for kids matched the ambitions of Bullying Online to provide children and parents with the tools to feel safer in such a way that didn’t compromise privacy or, at the other end of the scale, compromise child safety.”
John Carnell, founder of Bullying Online, said the charity helped in the development of the product “so that it fitted in with our own expectations of privacy and child safety”.
The award-winning charity was founded in 1999 and its website – www.bullying.co.uk – has been visited by more than 1.3 million people.
Bullying Online won a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award in 2005 and a St George’s Day Modern Hero Award this year and has picked up several other major accolades following its launch by John and his mother, Liz, a sub-editor at the Yorkshire Evening Post in Leeds.
After John was himself bullied at school, Liz took North Yorkshire County Council to court for failing to protect him and with the settlement she won she set up the charity and its website.
To use the new BestBuddy system, users must have a bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. The Buddy fobs, which would normally cost £35.50, are free as part of a 12-month service agreement which costs £4.99 a month – £1 of which goes directly to the charity.
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