The founder of an app helping to reduce danger for people on the streets in several dozen UK towns and cities says she hopes “nobody has to walk home alone feeling unsafe again”.
Emma Kay launched WalkSafe – an app which brings police crime data and community reported data into maps to help people plot a safe route home – in December 2020.
It initially accrued 5,000 downloads, but saw a spike in demand following a high-profile murder case.
“After the death of Sarah Everard, who went missing in Clapham in March, we saw a spike in demand, and the number of users rocketed to half a million,” Kay told the Daily Mail while growing the business. “It’s bittersweet as we wish this app didn’t have to exist. But as long as there’s a need, we’ll strive to make women feel as safe as possible.”
In a survey of 2,000 adults conducted by Opinium in October 2024, 44% of women said they feel unsafe walking in the dark.
WalkSafe, which has been rolled out in almost 40 towns and cities around the UK, has now partnered with Mitie, a UK security provider.
The firms say the partnership will enhance the WalkSafe Pro app and offer features such as access to trained operatives for reassurance and advice and real-time emergency support when needed.
When she was growing up, Kay’s father was in the Met Police. She says he “saw some horrors” which gave her a “healthy sense of reality as a girl”.
“I could never walk back from school without friends and I had to let my parents know when I was on my way home if I went out…. yet I still experienced harassment,” she added. “I remember, at 14, walking back to a friend’s house with her and being chased by a gang of boys. It was terrifying. We had to run and hide in someone’s garden. I dread to think what could have happened.”
The threat awareness when walking in the dark differs between men and women. 51% of women cite being followed by a stranger at the top of their list of fears, with awareness of the threat of sexual assault also running high for over a third (34%).
In contrast, just under a fifth (17%) of men fear being followed by a stranger and less than one in 20 (4%) list sexual assault as a concern.
Meanwhile, being mugged or becoming a victim of knife crime concern 48% and 28% of men respectively.
Kay wrote on LinkedIn recently: “Our Safer Communities initiative and partnership with Mitie has launched, and we couldn’t be more excited!
“I feel so incredibly lucky (and I know the WalkSafe team agree) to have the support of the UK’s leading security company behind us, sharing in our passion to make the world a safer place.
“Together we will roll out Safer Communities and ensure nobody has to walk home alone feeling unsafe again.”