The Eastern Michigan University Police Department is the campus’ best source of student safety. But it is also essential that students do their part to insure their own safety and the safety of others at EMU.
From the hallways of class buildings to the outskirts of campus, police officers are on the job daily assuring that EMU remains as safe as possible. Police officers are the heart of many programs on campus that provide this environment of enabling students to be informed as possible on these systems to maintain safety.
“Everyone has a different motive when they come on campus,” freshman Tony Cranford said. “You have no idea of their motives.
Some people might be there for dangerous or criminal reasons.”
Police officers are available to provide training classes or lectures on a wide variety of topics that directly affect EMU students. These may include such topics as:
• Crime and theft prevention
• Sexual assault
• Domestic violence
• Drinking and driving
• Campus safety policies and many other safety concerns
including those pertaining to the growing awareness of school violence
As part of the ongoing goal to keep students informed, the police department puts out an Annual Security Report for all to read that gives EMU students an overall idea of the happenings around school.
The first thing students will come across when reading the report is the primary mission for the EMU Police Department which states: “To provide for the safety and security of all members; students, faculty, and guests of our great university.”
Understanding the report helps students stay informed on maintaining safety. The annual report released in 2013 discusses not only information regarding the 2010 to 2012 school years but also contains valuable information students should know that is in place for both for the preventing and reporting of crimes on campus.
All students, especially freshman new to the school environment, should know the procedures and programs EMU police offer in order to keep them safe. In addition to knowing about the many great systems described in the annual report, students should be aware of who to call in case of emergency and how to use the on-campus phones and stations.
Within the annual report, students will find an updated listing of all the emergency numbers and even the non-emergency hotlines that are equally as important. These include the crime prevention hotline and the online crime prevention website at 1800speakup.org.
New students on campus often wonder what those blue light stations sprinkled across campus are. These are a part of the safety program at EMU, and it is essential that all students know to use these in the event of an emergency.
These blue light stations are a direct, 24-hour line to campus police. Many students are aware of the phones’ uses but aren’t positive how to use them when needed, which is equally important.
It’s important that students who are aware of how to use the blue light stations share that information with others as a part of keeping everyone on campus as safe as possible.
When faced with an emergency:
• Find the nearest on-campus phone or emergency station,
identifiable by the blue lights.
• Push the red emergency button in the lower-right corner of the panel. This will activate a strobe light atop the phone.
• Pushing the red button also immediately calls the campus police dispatcher who answers the emergency request. There is no need to dial any emergency number.
• Remain near the phone until a police officer arrives unless it is absolutely necessary to move away.
Students who remain unsure of how to use the emergency systems on campus can find instructional videos at emich.edu/publicsafety for more information
It is also important to stay informed about crime. According to the Annual Security Report, the campus crime alert/timely warning system increases safety awareness and provides students with timely notifications of crimes defined as serious threats to the campus community. This includes ongoing crimes. Students may often see these crime warnings in their Emich email, but they can also be located on the university police website.
In addition, students can find more information about the happenings on campus through the daily crime log, which is available at emich.edu/publicsafety/police/crimeinformation/crimelog.php. The daily log contains all incidents on campus considered to be criminal that are reported to or identified by the police department.
The Annual Security Report is also available online at emich.edu/publicsafety/police/documents/current_yearly_crime_stats.pdf .
