Ohio University's SAFE-T patrol continues to accompany students across campus because many still feel unsafe in Athens at night.
The Safe Arrival For Everyone Tonight (SAFE-T) patrol has escorted 91 students and one faculty member from Sept. 5 to Oct. 9, with an average of 20 escorts a week, said OU Police Chief Andrew Powers.
The patrol is a team of paid students who walk OU employees and other students to and from locations throughout campus. Eight students are paid minimum wage by the university, and the OU police department oversees the patrol.
EXTRA EYES AND EARS
Junior Ethan Doer is part of a SAFE-T patrol team. Along with senior John Koches, he walks around campus from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday nights.
We're here for students who don't want to walk alone from campus to their dorms at night. Faculty and staff
too Doer said. Really anyone who doesn't feel safe.
Doer said he and Koches walk one or two people each night.
We've been all over campus this quarter
Doer said.
From a budgetary standpoint
it doesn't make sense to (have officers do the job). We would have to hire more police officers with more specialized training. Powers said. They would be way overqualified for the job
and the cost would be considerable.
Escorting about 20 people per week would require a full-time police officer, Powers said.
The President's Advisory Council for Campus Safety conducted a survey last April asking 1,361 OU students about on-campus safety. Only 48 respondents said the SAFE-T patrol makes them feel safer at night, while 96 indicated OU police did.
Half of the respondents said they felt safe around campus at night.
Almost 34 percent said walking alone at night was more dangerous than walking in poorly lit areas, drunk or while talking on your cell phone. Of the respondents, 44 percent said walking in poorly lit areas was the most dangerous.
On campus, many students don't feel safe in certain buildings, said Liz Herron, at-large student senator for University Life and one of the survey's organizers.
The top (buildings) were Alden
Baker and Seigfred
Herron said. But no one answered why. It might just be because those buildings are open later
but we don't know.
LESS SAFE THAN OTHERS?
The SAFE-T patrol members do find themselves visiting some places more often than others.
Doer said students consistently request accompanied walks to student housing in and around Riverpark Towers, as well as to OU parking lots 50 to 55, which surround the complex.
We do two to three escorts a week to Lot 50
Doer said. The lot is located immediately north of Riverpark Towers.
Police reported several rapes and sexual assaults around the complexes last year.
A majority of respondents to the safety survey said they felt the Riverpark area was the least safe off-campus neighborhood - 177 mentioned Riverpark and 114 named Mill Street as the least safe neighborhoods. Palmer Street was third with 47 votes.
The survey points to areas where students feel unsafe, but Powers said there is no statistical information to justify increasing police presence around campus. Areas where students report more crime are just more densely populated with students, he said, adding that there isn't further research to back the survey's findings.
Athens and OU is a town where we don't have a lot of crime; no particular area is worse than any other particular area
Powers said. Larger cities like Cincinnati
