Photo by: University of Illinois SafeWalks is preparing a mobile app for UI students, faculty and staff to use to request assistance.

URBANA — It's late at night, you're alone and not sure where you are, but you need to go home.

Pull up the SafeWalks app and within moments, you'll get a call back, a student patrol officer will meet you and you will be safely on your way home.

SafeWalks — the free service provided by the University of Illinois for students, faculty and staff — will soon debut a new feature: a mobile app.

SafeWalks has been around since 1984 — current UI police Chief Jeff Christensen was the first student patrol supervisor. It provides users with a guided walk home by student patrol officers and is available by calling campus police at 217-333-1216.

But sometimes, for whatever reason — the student is shy, intoxicated or not a fluent English speaker — some students don't want to call the police line, said campus security coordinator Ryan Johnson.

"That's why we're going for this app, to make (SafeWalks) more convenient and get more students to utilize it," Johnson said. "We want everyone to be able to use it."

Campus officials often remind students not to walk alone, especially at night. That advice was often repeated last fall when a string of robberies occurred in Campustown. Criminals often seek out victims who are by themselves, according to police.

"The chances of something happening to them are greatly reduced when they walk in numbers," Johnson said.

The app was developed by a current student patroller and a fellow computer-science major. They started working on it last semester and are testing it. Johnson said they hope the app will be available at the end of this month or in the first few days of March. They definitely want it available by Unofficial St. Patrick's Day, set for March 6 this year.

The app will be available on iOS and Android platforms and downloadable via Apple's App Store and Google Play.

It should be simple to use, according to Johnson. The app will ask for the person's Net ID, name and phone number, which is then stored in the system.

After that, when the user opens the app and requests a SafeWalk, the location will be pinned on a map. Once they push the "request" button, a SafeWalks representative will get in touch with the person and confirm the location and that he or she wants a walk.

"There is a follow-up to it. We want to make sure we're all on same page," Johnson said.

SafeWalks is currently available 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

In recent years, more students have requested the service. Requests for walks totalled about 900 in 2012 and increased to 1,400 in 2014, according to UI police. Its student patrol has 39 members.

In addition to being involved in SafeWalks, members of student patrol walk through campus nightly in pairs and are on hand during events like basketball and football games. They're all equipped with police radios and have undergone radio, first-aid and CPR training.

Student patrols "provide extra eyes and ears for law enforcement," Johnson said.