Statistics to Influence Culture of Security

Campus Safety released the 2018 Annual Safety and Security Report in accordance with the Clery Act on Sept. 30. These statistics, in tandem with student concerns, have influenced department changes and new security measures in the attempt to create a culture of security on campus. 

The report highlights the crime that has taken place both on campus and within its geographical area. This includes the streets around campus and any building that is part of a university program. Additionally, the report includes various policies, safety procedures, and campus-specific information.

The campus statistics are calculated by the culmination of incidents reported annually to the Residence Life, Title IX, and Campus Safety departments. 

Campus Safety uses these reports to inform their decisions on which problems to solve next, according to Director of Campus Safety, Kent Ferrin. Their objective is to find meta problems on campus and solve them so they do not have to continually put band-aids on issues. 

“Now we’re solving a problem instead of just continuing to respond to a problem,” Ferrin said.

According to Ferrin, Vanguard is a very safe campus compared to others in the area. However, he and his department are taking steps to improve the university’s level of safety.

Wanting a more thorough report in the future, Ferrin has chosen to add more categories of reporting to the 2019 report. Added categories include reports such as trespassing, petty theft, locks/unlocks, medical aid, and escorts, according to Ferrin.

“Without good analytics, it’s hard for me to know where the problems are on campus,” Ferrin said.

Compared to previous years, this year’s report shows an increase in these statistics, according to Ferrin. However, this may not be because incidents did not happen to this degree previously but that they were not reported in the past. These statistics will be able to help determine trends so Campus Safety can identify problems on campus, he explained.

According to Ferrin, 2019 will be a year of better analytics, which can be compared with the following year’s report to discover any possible trends. 

Until then, Campus Safety is focusing its energy on implementing new security measures and creating a culture of security, according to Ferrin. He hopes to break the perceptions students may have of the department by addressing student concerns and making things more student-centric.