Safety First
SLIPPERY ROCK — One factor students consider when selecting a college is campus safety, and the commitment to safety for students and staff is strong at both Slippery Rock University and Butler County Community College.
According to the news website The Daily Beast, SRU is the 14th safest college in the country.
The student body of 8,325 at SRU beat out a number of larger schools to achieve the ranking.
The university police department has 16 officers who patrol the campus and four dispatchers who handle calls. The officers' tasks include watching roads, foot and bike paths; unlocking and locking academic buildings; handling disputes; investigating minor traffic accidents; and addressing any complaints.
Robert Downey, SRU chief of police, credits the overall safety of the school to the campus' rural setting, as well as a number of security programs aimed to reduce crime and keep students safe.
Helping with that are 16 emergency blue lights, stations that have direct emergency lines and flash blue when activated. A network of about 150 security cameras monitors parking lots, residence halls and academic buildings to help prevent nuisance crimes such as stealing signs or defacing university property.
Downey said many nuisance crimes stem from excessive alcohol consumption, which is why the university has a zero-tolerance policy for crimes related to drinking.
A campus escort program provides police or student security escorts for any student who feels unsafe walking home at night.
To prevent unwanted guests in residence halls, SRU has placed magnetic card readers at each entrance. Once inside the building, students must scan their identification cards again to enter their suite, and each student has a key to open his or her private room.
Students also receive text message notifications if staff or police determine there is a threat on campus.
Officials used the text alert system several times this year. One was for February's snowstorms, and the most recent one was April 24 for a shooting in the borough, for which an arrest was made.
Students and parents can sign up for text alerts on the SRU website.
Fifteen to 18 new security call boxes will be spread throughout the academic buildings, and anyone will be able to use them to notify police immediately by activating a box, similar to the way the campus blue light system works. Downey said the university hopes to have the network of boxes this summer.
While borough police handle most off-campus incidents, the university police force has jurisdiction on any road that borders the campus. It makes 45 to 50 driving while intoxicated arrests per year on campus roads, Downey said.
To help curb students from binge drinking and from committing crimes related to drinking, SRU offers classes for new students.
University police are assisting educators in the alcohol coalition, a program for incoming freshmen that deals with alcohol use and abuse.
The most common police citations issued on campus are for underage drinking and public intoxication, with about 200 citations per year for the nonviolent crimes, according to Downey.
More serious crimes, such as sexual assault, are rare on campus, with only two incidents reported during the past two years. One of those cases led to arrests with one conviction already and one pending trial, Downey said.
Downey said the SRU police department is honored to be recognized for the work it does in making the university one of the safest campuses in America.
"We took that as a pretty big honor," Downey said, referring to the Daily Beast ranking. "The guys and girls here work hard, and they take their work serious."
BC3 expands safety
Pat Massaro, director of campus police and security at BC3, said he has started improving security by installing cameras at the Lawrence Crossing campus in New Castle and has bids out for surveillance at both the LindenPointe campus in Hermitage, Mercer County, and Cranberry Township's campus."I'm in the process of hiring an officer dedicated to the off-campus sites," he said.The new focus is off-campus sites, where staff and students start documenting vehicles allowed on campus."It all fits together," he said. "All this is going to complement what's happening on the main campus."When President Nick Neupauer took the office, he said he was going to make security a priority.The college formed a committee to examine campus safety. Three emergency call boxes were installed at the main campus in Butler Township to put people who are in trouble in touch immediately with law enforcement.At the same time, Massaro took on the new position of director of campus police and security. The campus changed its policy to allow its part-time officer and three full-time officers to be armed.The college also uses a service that alerts students by phone or text in case of an emergency.Eagle staff writer Megan Duncan contributed to this report.
