­UK based crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers is supporting PanicGuard, a smartphone-based personal safety service.

PanicGuard enables a user's smartphone to act as an advanced personal alarm, which when activated, signals an alert for help to a Crimestoppers-supported Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC).

The ARC responds immediately -- calling the user to verify their situation. If there is no answer after three calls or if the evidence suggests a threat to life, the ARC immediately contacts police in the local area to respond to the incident.

Crucially, the PanicGuard service provides the ARC with a host of vital information in this process -- including the user's profile details from their PanicGuard subscription, the current location (and the user's movements using GPS), as well as video and audio uploaded from the phone.

All of these elements can be useful to the ARC and of course the police, in the short-term, and if necessary, in the any future police action.

Isabel Cross, Head of Campaigns and Communications at Crimestoppers said: "As an independent crime-fighting charity, we are always encouraged to hear of new and innovative ways that aim to keep individuals and our communities safe.

"PanicGuard is a service that could act as the security blanket you feel you need when travelling alone or in a situation you do not feel comfortable in."