The Safety and Security of Students at a University

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The Safety and Security of Students at a University

Introduction

Our group designed a study to measure violent crimes that occur on University’s campus. We began this study with the benefit being able to be distributed 3 ways: the parents, students, and faculty/staff. The parents would benefit from the results of the study by knowing or gaining a better understanding of how safe the campus of University is. The students would be better equipped with the tools needed to prevent and observe certain crimes from occurring on campus. The faculty and staff would be able to help strengthen the partnership between students and University officials to bring more awareness to students’ needs, concerns, safety, and well-being. Knowing students’ level of fear can help universities as they develop and strategize new safety measures on campus. The data collection method we used to gather accurate information was to conduct a survey that measured student’s current attitude and opinion about crime on campus. Students on the campus of University perceive fear of crime as being equivalent to criminal victimization. When people are afraid of being victimized or think that they will become victims of crime, they may change their daily routines and thereby enjoy life less. A majority of the students that we surveyed on campus felt safe, while there were also those who felt as though they were not as safe. In our research we attempted to explore the minds and fears of students as well as faculty/staff to see how the campus could improve safety measures so that the student body as a whole would feel more secure. These would include; reducing fear of crime and perceptions of crime risk, improving the physical and overall appearance of the university, and increasing quality of life for residents and other citizens. University and college campuses experience far less violent and property crime than the nation as a whole. However, crime on campus may still be problematic as it causes fear and perceptions of crime risk in students, faculty, and staff. Crime on campus has been the subject of much recent research, most of which has been aimed at discovering where and when crime happens on campus in order to design and implement effective crime prevention policies. Such crime prevention strategies have commonly been referred to as "crime prevention through environmental design" (CPTED) and "situational crime prevention."Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, CPTED, is based on the premise that "_The proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear of crime and incidence of crime, and to an improvement in quality of life_.

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