Whether students are coming to Auburn University for the first time or returning for classes, there are general safety guidelines they can follow to ensure their college careers aren’t riddled with unfortunate accidents or arrest records.
According to Auburn police Lt. Jamey Presley, the number one legal issue that affects students is theft of property, the risk of which is easily mitigated by using common sense.
“When people go to the library and other places, they tend to have their laptops sitting out on tables and get up to go to the bathroom or to get a cup of coffee because they think, ‘Nobody would ever steal this $1500 computer,’ and five minutes late it’s gone,” Presley said. “It’s very, very quick and easy for people to steal a laptop.”
The easiest ways for students to prevent theft is to be mindful of their possessions and to lock their doors. Whether they live in a dorm, apartment or house, Presley encourages students to always have their doors locked, and the same should apply to car doors.
Another prevalent safety issue for college students is irresponsible drinking, including public intoxication, drunken driving and binge drinking.
“If you’re not of age, don’t drink alcohol. But I’m not naïve, I know it happens all the time,” Presley said. “If you are out drinking, make sure you’re with friends. If you go out to a bar make sure you go with friends who will look out for you and make sure you don’t drink too much and ensure that you will get home safely.”
The lieutenant also said that students should not go home with strangers, to only accept drinks that students have seen the bartenders open and to always either call a cab, use an Auburn University Security Shuttle, call an Uber or have a designated driver instead of drunken driving.
Associate Director of Auburn University’s Department of Safety and Security Susan McCallister said that traffic violations are also a leading threat to the safety of students, many of which are affected by the use of alcohol in one way or another.
“I see a lot of issues with pedestrians at crosswalks and not knowing the rules of the road. To me one of the big issues is motorist, cyclist and pedestrian safety,” McCallister said. “Of course drinking is a big issue that we see and is probably the root cause of a lot of the issues we see reports on.”
Several measures have been taken by Auburn University to ensure the safety of its students, such as a contract with the Auburn Police Division to ensure that there are patrolmen present in and around Auburn’s campus at all times, blue light phones stationed around campus that will immediately contact the Auburn police dispatch center if a student feels endangered, camera systems placed around campus to deter, solve, and report crimes and a campus community emergency response team made up of almost 400 Auburn employees who have gone through emergency preparedness training.
“I always emphasize that Auburn itself is generally safe, but we have the same crimes as every other city does, we just don’t have them on the same scale,” Presley said. “So I always tell people to be aware of their surroundings… That’s the number one way to be safe.”
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