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How To Determine If Your University Or College Campus Is Safe

Crime is a serious issue for all university and college campuses, and even though most institutions have security personnel, it is often not adequate to protect students and faculty. Before you decide to walk alone at night on your college or university campus, it helps to know if it is reasonably safe, and if not, what you can do to protect yourself.

Electronic ID’s

Many college and university campuses have improved the safety of their grounds by installing electronic ID systems for dorms and common areas. If you don’t have the laminated card with your ID code on the back of it, you don’t have access to any of the buildings. This system has both pros and cons, of course, so you have to know how to use them.

First, an electronic ID system only makes your university or college campus safe if you use it effectively. This means paying attention when you enter or leave the building to make sure unauthorized personnel don’t enter or leave behind you. It also means having your access card handy when approaching your building; that way you don’t have to stop and fish for it in the darkest hours of the night.

Security Guards

Although your university or college campus probably has a team of security guards, this hardly means that the grounds are safe. For one thing, security guards aren’t necessarily trained for crisis or emergency situations, and many of them don’t have any formal instruction at all. Nevertheless, students and faculty are encouraged to call the security office rather than the police with concerns, and this can be dangerous.

Find out about the security guards on your university or college campus have received formal training. Perhaps they were trained at the local police academy, or maybe they have a training program of their own. If not, you can encourage the administration of your school to improve the quality of its security team. In the meantime, call the police directly if you think you are in danger.

Crime Waves

Your university or college campus might be experiencing a frightening crime wave-and you might not be any the wiser. Although schools are required by law to publish and make available crime statistics, the reporting of these crimes is often delayed, if published at all. This certainly compromises the safety of both students and faculty.

If you want to know about recent incidents of crime on your university or college campus, go straight to the horse’s mouth. Talk to security guards and student volunteers to find out about assaults or burglaries on campus, then take the appropriate precautions. If students and professors communicate with one another, they can help keep everybody safe.

Student Data

Unfortunately, as much as you’d like to protect your identity and personal information, the databases kept by universities and colleges aren’t always safe. Talk to your admissions representative or another qualified party about the steps taken to protect student information on your university or college campus. When is your information entered into the computer? And are all professors aware that they can’t share your information with other students or parents?

Your university or college campus might appear safe, but studies show that campus crime isn’t exactly falling. In fact, there have been more brutal crimes in the last five years than at any other point in history. If you’re going to go to college, take exams, write student essays and pretty much enjoy your college life – you should definitely take the necessary steps to keep yourself safe.

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