Campus Safety and Security
March 14, 2008
From: David Rainer, Associate Vice Chancellor
Environmental Health and Public Safety
Subject: Campus Safety and Security
Recent local and national events have focused increased attention on university campus safety. NC State has always had a very proactive campus safety program and continues to modify and update its campus safety initiatives in accordance with recent events.
Campus safety begins with a well-trained police department and the NC State police agency is one of the few accredited university police departments in the country. Accreditation means campus police have met or exceeded nationally recognized standards for law enforcement agencies. The university’s police department provides a full range of services, including 24-hour patrol (by vehicle, on bikes, on foot and on horseback), investigations, and crime prevention. The department also offers a wide range of educational services.
Campus Police jurisdiction extends to all property owned or leased by the university, including private buildings on leased NC State land. There is a campus 9-1-1 center that is staffed 24/7 and Campus Police have written mutual aid agreements with Raleigh Police and many other local emergency service agencies. Campus Police regularly test their response capability and have interoperable communications equipment that allow direct communication with state and municipal emergency service groups.
If NC State were a city, based on an estimated daily population of approximately 39,000 we would be the twentieth largest city in North Carolina. While recent campus crimes are unacceptable, the crime rate for robbery and other violent crimes must be kept in perspective. For example, in 2005, there were 5 on campus robberies, in 2006 there were 3, in 2007 there were 8, and year to date there have been 2. For comparison, in 2006, the population of Raleigh was about 329,000 and there were 782 reported robberies.
However, we will not relax our efforts just because our crime rate is very low. Campus Police regularly monitor crime trends and make appropriate adjustments to staffing and patrol schedules. The after-hours escort program has been modified to accommodate escorts for individuals as well as groups. Other less visible changes have been made to enhance the effectiveness of patrols.
In addition to well-trained police, NC State engages in a wide variety of safety-related initiatives including utilization of community-oriented policing strategies, crisis response and communications plans and an array of communication resources (see below). University wide crisis response and communication plans map out crisis response protocols and help to accelerate the decision-making process in an emergency.
Here’s a glossary of campus alert tools. These tools are not intended for use in all instances, but are reserved for emergencies that present a broad, immediate and ongoing threat to campus:
Text messaging: The University sends a message much like a text message that goes from one person to another. Currently about 12,000 students and employees are signed up to receive text alerts. Based on the first test of the system, it takes about 15 minutes to reach all 12,000. Only individuals with an official University ID may sign up to receive a text message. Strength – It’s a message that goes directly to the recipient. Limitation-- The number of characters in a text are limited to about 140, meaning we could only use text messaging as a general alert that would instruct recipients to go to the home page or emergency information page for more details; 15 minutes is as fast as 12,000 text messages can be delivered and in a real emergency the system might be slowed by increased cell phone activity.
Home page message: The university uses two spaces on the home page for alerts. In a “major” emergency, the page would contain only emergency communications. In a minor emergency, the block near the center-right of the page would be utilized. Strength -- Plenty of room to fully flesh out details of the incident as they become available. Limitation-- It’s dependent on people being at their computers.
Broadcast email: A broadcast email goes to everyone who has a university email account. Strength -- Could be a more thorough explanation of the situation than would be included in a text message. Limitation– Like text messaging, not as fast as one individual emailing another. It could take up to two hours to deliver emails to the roughly 40,000 people who have university email accounts.
Audible alerts: The University has added voice- and siren-enabled towers throughout campus. The towers are designed to broadcast a siren alert to signal to community members who are outside they need to seek emergency information (website, media, etc.). Strengths -- Can alert a large area quickly. Limitation-- Not intended for those inside buildings, acts as a signal to seek more information.
Emergency Listserv: Each building on campus has at least one building liaison and most have several. The listserv would be used to provide an email message to the network of building liaisons, which would then spread the word. Strength -- Provides a first-person word-of-mouth warning. Limitation-- Not as effective in a building directly involved in the emergency.
Campus hotline: The University uses 513-8888 for a wide range of announcements, including adverse weather and emergency situations. Strength -- Easily updated. Limitation-- Could be overloaded by callers seeking information in an emergency.
Campus and external media: Radio Station WKNC-FM (88.1), the Technician (Technicianonline.com), Nubian Message (ncsu.edu/numbian) and campus cable as well as the Raleigh print and broadcast media likely would cover or include information about emergencies on campus. Strength: Easily accessible. Limitation-- Might not be as accurate or up-to-date as sources maintained by the university.
Crime alerts: Used by campus police to send information to campus and seek assistance from the campus in situations involving a localized crime. Strength: Could be a more thorough explanation of the situation than would be included in a text message. Limitation: Because police must ensure the accuracy of the evidence and witness and victim accounts, crime alerts may be delayed by an hour or more.
For periodic updates about campus safety initiatives, visit the University web page http://www.ncsu.edu/emergency-information/index.php and view the information, Orientation to Emergency Preparedness and Procedures. We are committed to working with all members of the university community in continuing to make NC State a safe place to live, work and learn.