Safety measures must be enacted on the U of MN campus
Graphic by Luke Weisbrod
February 19, 2014
Brighter streetlights, more campus police and new security cameras are all part of the University of Minnesota’s much needed new security. Although they have a lot of good plans to add to the campus, police still need to put these thoughts and plans to action.
The University has been under growing pressure to increase and improve the campus’ security, ever since the large crime wave that happened this fall. The students did not feel safe walking home late at night. The campus police say that there were 25 robberies reported, some at gunpoint. This has been the highest number of crimes reported at the University in years.
“In the daytime I feel safe walking around campus, and when I am walking around at night with friends. If I am walking home from the library after 10 p.m., I get a little worried, but nothing too bad”, said U of M freshman Myka Betts.
Some of the new safety precautions that the University recently added is a button to every lightpost within each mile. When the button is pushed police should be there in under two minutes. University police said they added three officers in December, and plan to add four more officers to the late-night shift on Thursdays through Saturdays during the spring semester.
Another new security measure includes a student awareness campaign called “SAFE U,” which is an app on an iphone or ipod/tablet that allows students to safely record and instantly upload the recordings to their cloud servers to prevent any criminal act against students or their families. It also reminds students to take steps to protect themselves, walk in groups and keep laptops and cellphones out of sight.
“The police are doing the best that they can with the security, but it is also some of the students that could do better things to protect themselves. One time when I was driving down University Ave. I saw a kid walking by himself with his laptop in his hand. From a criminal’s perspective it is such an easy target,” said U of M senior Joey Printon.
The University also has “The Gopher Chauffeur”, which is a free transportation service which promotes safety around the campus. They operate from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Thurs., Fri. and Sat. nights. All drivers are hired by Boynton Health Service and are all CPR certified.
As a string of armed robberies took place this fall semester, police hope that with the new security set up around the St.Paul & Minneapolis U of M campus’ that students should feel safer walking around campus.
Alec Youngblood • Apr 2, 2014 at 3:57 am
This article was very interesting. Who knew UofM was this dangerous? I also thought it was really cool that you had quotes from actual college students.
Ahnika Kroll • Mar 29, 2014 at 3:34 pm
I was not aware that this was a problem at all, but this article completely opened my eyes! In my search for colleges right now, safety is one of the largest discussions on the board. Truthfully, in a big city like Minneapolis you’d think the U of M would be more cautious, I’m really surprised! Also, I can’t imagine the work you must have put in to get those quotes off campus. Really well written, Luke, thanks for sharing!