Campus Connection

A Safety Awareness Committee meeting was held on Thursday, March 6 at the Student Center on Pine Street. The meeting was led by Support Services Commander, Major Milland Reed, who sat in the place of Chief Barnes. Operations Commander, Captain John Christian and Corporal William Griffin, the University Safety Awareness Officer was also in attendance to assist with the meeting.

The meeting began with a discussion on the effectiveness of the dissemination of crime and safety information to the various schools. Normally there is a “trickle-down e-mail effect” in which the University Police alerts are sent by e-mail to members of the Safety Awareness Committee who are responsible for passing along the information to their various schools and departments. There are also flyers posted throughout the schools and at security desks.

However, it was noted that the University Police received a large amount of negative feedback about timely notification of the recent random acts of violence by juvenile offenders on campus. Major Reed assured the committee that the University Police were not in violation of the Clery Act of 1991 which requires “timely warning reports” to the entire campus community for all crimes.

The UMB Alerts System which allows text messages to be sent by e-mail account, cell phone, pager or Blackberry/Treo was also discussed. The officers noted their concern of the poor response they have received from the campus community as a whole in registering for this service. They admitted that it was a difficult balance in determining when alerts should be placed through the system.  They pointed out that an increase in the notification of minor alerts could make users immune to a severe situation. Also, all information coming from the Baltimore Police Department has to be verified prior to being acted upon.

During the meeting, Corporal Griffin passed out the crime statistics for the period of January 1, 2008 to February 29, 2008 in which there were a total of 5,362 service calls. This included 250 calls requiring reports and investigations that resulted in 1 adult arrest and 12 juvenile arrests. Also included in the total were 1 robbery, 2 aggravated assaults and 4 non-aggravated assaults. There were also 12 thefts and 1 auto theft for a loss of $8,625. 

The University Police assured attendees that the assaults by the juveniles were not gang-related. Their investigation determined that the attacks were simply random attacks of violence. Major Reed called the UMB campus an “oasis” in the city of Baltimore and added that the University Police are “really good at pushing crime away.”

To combat the recent string of incidents on campus, officer presence has been increased on the northern end of the campus, near Saratoga Garage and Lexington Garage, during the daytime. In addition, the police escort shuttle has recently extended its area of service to the subway station. It now stops at Saratoga and Eutaw Streets and runs until 12:30 a.m.  Police escort can be requested by calling 410-706-6882. 

To learn more about the Clery Act visit the website: http://www.securityoncampus.org/congress/cleryhistory.html

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