September is National Campus Safety Awareness Month. Here at UNCC, the Police and Public Safety department has teamed up with several other departments on campus to make sure that students receive as much information as possible during this important and informative month.
Students across the country have been informed of many killings and deaths of college students over the past several years. The goal of National Campus Safety Awareness Month is to “bring awareness to college students of crimes on campus, recurring trends, alcohol awareness, sex abuse, drug abuse, and violent crimes,” according to Officer Mulholland of the UNCC police department. If students are educated on these matters, hopefully they will take the actions recommended to protect themselves from harm.
National Campus Safety Awareness Month originated at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Month after month of accounts of missing students and student deaths influenced the director of the SGA Campus Climate Committee at UWGB, Mitch Bruckert, to establish September as Safety Month so that safer campuses could be generated nationwide.
Officer Mulholland has supplemented his usual responsibilities to our campus with active efforts to make this year’s Safety Awareness Month successful. “Safety month is important for us to have because we want everyone to be aware, and we want to make sure that UNCC is one of the safest campuses in the nation. One of our main goals is to get this information out to students, and that is why we are actively involved in participating in this program,” Mulholland explained.
Not only have the Police and Public Safety department been involved in Safety Month, but they also have teamed up with many other departments on campus. A mutual effort has been made as Safety Month is being co-sponsored by the Dean of Students office, Housing and Residence Life, the Wellness Promotions department, the Office of Disability Services, the Safety and Environmental Health office, and the Counseling Center. All departments have events scheduled throughout the month.
There are many benefits to having multiple departments involved. The Health Center has experts in particular areas like drug and alcohol abuse and STDs, while the Counseling center can specialize in relationship violence. “By partnering up with many other departments, we are getting more word out this year than we did last year,” Mulholland said.
One of the most important events this year is “Operation ID.” Students will have multiple opportunities to have identification engraved on valuables. There is also a form available on the UNCC Police department’s website where students can register their personal property by filling out a form and including the make, model, and serial numbers of their valuables.
If a student’s property is stolen, he or she will have a much greater chance of it being returned if he or she has registered it with Operation ID. Police will be able to trace it through the National Crime Information Center, so if someone is caught with the property, police can return it to the owner. Also, this allows police to charge the thief with possession of stolen property.
Another program going on is the “Stop Thief” program. Students and faculty will be given hang tags to put in their cars which remind them to remove their personal property from the vehicle when they leave. “Car break-ins at UNCC and in the city have increased dramatically over the past several years, so we hope that students remember to remove valuables from their cars after parking,” Mulholland said.
One of the biggest safety concerns on campus is students leaving their rooms unlocked. “We will be checking doors in residence halls to make sure they’re locked,” Mulholland said. This program is called “Gotcha,” and if doors are not secured, police will put a Gotcha tag on the door, then lock the door. This lets the residents know that they left their door insecure, and that they should avoid doing so in the future.
“This campus has grown very large, and we want students to be aware of their surroundings, to protect their property, and to walk in groups of twos at night. Overall, we want them to be safety conscious,” Mulholland said. If students need assistance or an escort at night, they are encouraged to call the police.
Students should be active in making this campus as safe as possible. “If you see something that doesn’t look right or something suspicious, contact us, and we will check it out. If you want to leave an anonymous tip, call us. We also have an anonymous tip hotline which you can find on our Web site as well,” Mulholland said.
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