Office of the President, Shirley Strum Kenny

Online commentaries from President Shirley Strum Kenny

SPEAKING OF ...
Crime and Safety

Over the last month or so, there have been several memos from Police Chief Richard Young to the campus community concerning disturbing incidents on campus. More incidents have been reported than in the past because we believe it is important for members of the community to be fully informed about these matters.

But it is also important to be aware that although notices have increased this year, criminal incidents have decreased. In fact, the statistics from January till now are down 7 per cent from last year.

We intend to continue to bring those numbers down. For that reason we are introducing additional campus precautionary actions and encouraging greater defensive actions on the part of our students, staff, and faculty.

Here are some of the new police precautions to be initiated or continued this year campus-wide:

We will close the gates, at 11 p.m. rather than midnight, to discourage individuals who are not members of the campus community from coming on campus. Stony Brook faculty, staff, and students will be required to show identification to enter.
Campus police will patrol the inner and outer residence quads.
We will add more Blue Light emergency phones to the 122 already existing on campus. If there is a place at which you believe a phone is needed, please notify University Police at x333.
The University Police not only will continue to offer self-defense classes but will offer more if needed.
The Dusk to Dawn Ride Program (632-RIDE), which has handled approximately 3,700 rides per year to bring people to their residence halls or cars, will continue. We have grown our Residential Safety Program, which now has 160 student workers, and provides escorts to walk students from one campus location to another. Students can call (632-WALK) on a 24/7 basis.

Campus Residences is also upgrading and improving safety precautions:

Nineteen card access points have been added in the residence halls, and six more are being added. Locking devices have been upgraded in 22 locations.
Repairs of exterior doors, windows, lighting, and other safety devices occur daily, as soon as they are reported. Reported malfunctions of door locks will be treated as emergencies and will get same-day repair service. Students should call their quad office during work hours, and contact the campus police on weekends and after 5:30 pm on weekdays.
This year we added 28 video cameras to monitor various campus locations and we plan to add more.
Additional exterior lighting has been installed. If you detect a lighting problem, please contact Campus Operations and Maintenance, x2-6400.
We will soon conduct an online student survey and begin student focus groups on security concerns.
RHA, the Residence Hall Student Association, is promoting student safety awareness and personal responsibility with a series of programs including panel discussions with the University Police and other groups. A major campus safety event will take place in the SAC in February.

The University Police and the Residential Safety Program are at work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whatever we can do to continue to reduce campus crime, we want to do it.

Other suggestions? Send me an email. Your ideas can help.

Shirley.Kenny@stonybrook.edu