WATCH: New app to help keep you safe

Police are encouraging people across Derbyshire to download a free personal safety app to their smartphones to help them feel safe in vulnerable situations.

HollieGuard is an app that can track a person's location as they are out for exercise, or simply going about day to day tasks.

If somebody feels unsafe, all they need to do is shake their phone to send an alert to a group of contacts to warn them that they may be in danger.

Once the phone has been shaken, it will then start recording both audio and visual footage of what is happening around them.

This will be saved and sent to their contacts so they can see what is happening, which will allow them to call the police or ambulance service if required.

The app was set up in memory of 20-year-old Hollie Gazzard, who was stabbed to death in 2014 at the salon she worked at in Gloucestershire by a jealous ex-boyfriend after their relationship ended.

Superintendent Michelle Shooter, of Derbyshire Constabulary, said: "As an organisation we are promoting the HollieGuard app as a tool which links directly into one of our priorities which is protecting the vulnerable.

"This app is a self-help tool, it’s free to download, and it can be used in a variety of situations from nights out to domestic abuse, or in any situation when someone may feel vulnerable, so please consider downloading it." 

For more information and to find out how to download the app, visit www.hollieguard.com.

Watch a video about HollieGuard at the top of the page.