There\u2019s finally a way to snag a man in uniform before Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
First responders and other public employees now have their own dating app to help them find a partner who truly understands the demands and unpredictability of a public-service job.<\/p>\n
Secure, designed exclusively for public servants \u2014 from cops, firefighters and TSA agents to doctors, nurses and 911 dispatchers \u2014 launched in August and already has close to 1,000 users. <\/p>\n
Nurse Ashley Anu, posing at the Burger Joint in Midtown, is dating a police officer she met on Secure. Michael McWeeney for NY Post<\/p>\n
The Post spoke to two who have already met matches. <\/p>\n
Queens nurse Ashley Anu is dating a police officer she met through the app \u2014 and said it was refreshing to be with someone who understands how she feels after a 12-hour shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, as a nurse, you come home and you\u2019re really emotionally and mentally drained. You don\u2019t want someone who expects you to be all happy and dandy, because that\u2019s not reality,\u201d Anu told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it was hard to develop that with anyone else in the outside world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before she found her man in blue, she went on two Secure dates \u2014 with an EMT and an MTA subway employee.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo with the police officer, and the other ones too, they understood I\u2019m not always going to be on my phone. I\u2019m not always going to be down for a date,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Secure, which was founded by two first responders from Queens, launched in August. Secure<\/p>\n
MTA bus driver Wayz Lal of Queens is happily dating a nurse he met through Secure, so put the brakes on the app.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I actually don\u2019t have the app anymore, because I met someone and it got pretty serious,\u201d said Lal, 26.<\/p>\n
The couple has already coordinated their crazy work schedules.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur schedules kind of landed around the same time to pick, so we got the same days off,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n
MTA bus driver Wayz Lal has also found a match through the app. Michael McWeeney<\/p>\n
Lal, who had been on Tinder and Bumble, said the women he met on those apps couldn\u2019t comprehend that he was unable to text them back during his 8 a.m. to 8:40 p.m. shifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a bus driver, there are times I would go four, five, six hours even and I wouldn\u2019t even look at my phone, and the girls would always assume I was talking to someone else. But with the few ladies I met off of Secure, they understood because they worked the same amount,\u201d said Lal, who had dates with a teacher and a cop before the RN stole his heart.<\/p>\n
Secure was founded by two first responders from Queens \u2014 Lee Yokomee and her then-colleague Terrance McCall \u2014 who got the idea in 2022, after COVID made it difficult to date.<\/p>\n
Yokomee joined Hinge after her long term relationship ended and was discussing her discontent with it to McCall.<\/p>\n
Secure\u2019s users include police officers, state troopers, firefighters, parole officers, TSA agents, sanitation workers, teachers, nurses, doctors, 911 dispatchers and MTA employees. Secure<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just felt very superficial,\u201d Yokomee, 33, told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I joked around and said, \u2018I would love to find me a hot firefighter,\u2019 and we just ran from there.\u201d <\/p>\n
The duo wanted to offer users the opportunity to date someone who also has an unpredictable work schedule, as well as a profession that can also take its toll emotionally.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone that understands that if I don\u2019t answer my phone right away, I\u2019m not out cheating. I\u2019m literally just on shift and my phone is in my pocket,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst responders and public servants, we go through a flood of emotions through one eight-hour shift. It\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
To ensure safety, prospective users must upload a government-issued ID, a valid work ID and a live selfie. Michael McWeeney for NY Post<\/p>\n
The founders stayed away from the \u201csuperficial and repetitive\u201d swiping model used by dating apps like Tinder and Bumble, and opted for one that resembles an Instagram feed \u2014 and before they even launched, they had 400 people on their waiting list.<\/p>\n
To ensure safety and eliminate catfishing, prospective users must upload a government-issued ID, a valid work ID and a live selfie, which are all verified by the ID verification platform Plaid, used by brands like American Express and Venmo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have eliminated about 300 to 400,\u201d said Yokomee.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom incomplete signups, to people trying to weasel their way in with false documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to hear that it\u2019s working,\u201d said Yokomee of the app, which is free for now, but will eventually offer a paid subscription plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re changing lives in the way I always hoped, both on and off duty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s finally a way to snag a man in uniform before Valentine\u2019s Day. First responders and other public…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":589598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,9470,140990,24593,14206,6335,2142,6526,454,1165,4818,5248,9904,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5257,44966,24592,63997,22598,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,223110],"class_list":["post-589597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-apps","tag-city-employees","tag-dating-apps","tag-doctors","tag-exclusive","tag-federal-government","tag-firefighters","tag-government","tag-lifestyle","tag-love","tag-metro","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-sanitation-department","tag-sex-relationships","tag-state-troopers","tag-teachers","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-valentines-day"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116069463928033320","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}