PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Public Safety today launched a new safety service, Penn Guardian, which allows DPS’s emergency communications center, PennComm, to identify the GPS coordinates of registered cell phones.

Designed to help DPS emergency responders locate registered users when they need assistance, Penn Guardian is limited to those who register their cell-phone numbers and create online profiles.

Once a cell phone has been registered, dispatchers at PennComm will be able to view a person’s profile information, if he or she calls the DPS emergency number, 215-573-3333.

DPS emergency personnel can only view a registered person’s information or location if that person has activated the system with a call from a registered cell phone.

“The Penn community sees the value of the Penn Guardian system,” Maureen S. Rush, vice president for public safety, said.  “In less than 24 hours after we launched the program, approximately 1,800 students, faculty and staff had registered their cell phones and profiles.”

Penn students, faculty and staff can register with Penn Guardian and get more information at www.publicsafety.upenn.edu/getpennguardian.