5 Tips to Ensure Your Safety on Campus

Even though the Menlo College community is fortunate enough to say we are a smaller, safe community with little to no crime on campus: students, faculty and staff should  always take precautionary steps to ensure personal safety.

 One of the main reasons students have always felt so safe on campus has been the Security Officers who work 24-hour and security cameras around campus. In a recent event where a poster put up by one of the senior Capstone Classes went missing, campus security could not review the security footage to identify the vandals because the time frame of the event. The suspects were never identified and the exercise proved that relying primarily on Menlo's security cameras to feel safe is not wise.

All footage shot on our security cameras are in real-time. There are no security cameras in the interior of buildings but there are cameras scattered around campus with views of different angles around campus, capturing when someone enters or exits any building. With footage recorded at night that needs to be reviewed, it can often be difficult to identify someone on the film because of the lighting captured in that particular area.

 "This is a very quiet work environment; I attended a much larger school and believe the students here are well behaved. This is a very safe campus, but no one should assume or take their safety for granted, said Tracy Newby, a Menlo Security Officer."

Crime does happen on college campuses and in 2008 the crime rates and figures were broken down to specifics and made public information. In 2008, 88,432 crimes were reported to police on U.S. college and university campuses; 97 percent were property crimes, most prevalent being theft, and 3 percent were violent crimes. Of the violent crimes reported on U.S. college campuses, 1,288 (48 percent) were aggravated assaults, 882 (33 percent) were robberies, 511 (19 percent) were forcible rapes, and 2 (0.07 percent) were murders.

 Here are the 5 helpful tips Menlo Security Officer, Tracy Newby developed for individuals to ensure their personal safety on and off U.S college campuses:

 1. At night when walking around campus alone or in a group try to stay in well lit areas and carry a handheld flashlight or even a small LED light. It is easier to see someone in the distance who is carrying a flashlight.  Also, if someone tries to attack you, flashing a light in the attackers face can blind the person momentarily and give you a chance to run away.

 2. Use the buddy system. When possible walk with another individual or group when it's dark out. Having another person with you will make you less vulnerable and less likely to be a target for a crime.

 3. When walking at night and alone, even though it may make you feel safer, avoid using your cell phone or listening to music. During a crime one of our strongest senses is your eyesight. When it is dark outside that your sense of sight is less dominant and our sense of hearing is heightened. By using your phone or listening to music you will not be able to hear the sound of someone approaching or that someone is there, until it is too late.

 4. If you are walking to your car or, somewhere else on campus, and you feel unsafe and would like an escort, call the Menlo Security Office at 650-400-5837 and they will meet and walk with you to your destination.

 5. Let people know where you are. In telling your friends and family where you are going and when you should be there, on the event that you do not arrive and they can't get a hold of you, it will raise an immediate red flag and action can be taken to find you.

 These tips can be used and implemented in your life as precautionary steps in ensuring personal safety. There are also emergency poles around campus that flash a blue light at the top. These are equipped with a phone as a resource to individuals for any emergency that occurs.  The Menlo Security Office works 24 hours a day and can be easily reached at 650-400-5837 at anytime.