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Shedding light on safety concerns
Proposed volunteer escort program seeks to increase security
By Kristi Peregoy
kperegoy@mscd.edu

In an effort to increase campus safety, the Auraria Campus Police Department hosted its second annual Safe Campus Night, which was open to all students, staff and faculty.

The event, held Oct. 19 in the Tivoli Multicultural Lounge, invited Auraria’s population to make recommendations on how to improve on-campus safety.

Event attendees were split into groups and sent on one of 10 campus walks led by a member of facilities management and an Auraria Campus police officer who listened to safety concerns. The 10 areas included campus parking lots, campus buildings and the athletic field.

The Auraria Foundation donated $500,000 to the campus after the 2005 Safe Campus Night to help improve issues such as poorly lit areas, too few phones in lots, inadequate signage and overgrown vegetation.

Students and staff at this year’s event brought up similar concerns, including having more directional signs for handicapped students, increased campus security and the possibility of surveillance cameras, which presently can only be found in parking structures.

"Surveillance cameras are not in the plan. They are very expensive and need to be staffed,” said Heather Coogan, chief of Auraria police.

Coogan confirmed that the Auraria Campus Police Department has just been authorized to hire a new officer and hopes to get a few more in the future.

Starting in spring 2007, Auraria police also hope to start a volunteer escort program to increase security and safety. The program is open to any campus member who will walk another campus member at night to their vehicles or light-rail station.

Interested parties need to register with the Auraria police to obtain an identifier, which will be a reflective armband or hat. Volunteers who walk with campus members will not be asked to interfere with crime.

Students are encouraged to call 911 if they witness a crime. If made on campus phone, the call goes directly to campus police. All outside streets and parking lots are under Denver police jurisdiction, and calls made from those locations will be forwarded to them.

Auraria police officer Bob Barela said he does not get many reports of campus crime.

“Usually when cars are parked closer to campus, there is less of a chance that something will happen. The lots further away from campus have glass all over them from windows being broken out,” Barela said.

Barela cautions anyone who parks in lots far away from campus, such as the lot on Rio Court near the southwest corner of campus.

“People park over there to save a few bucks, but it’s not worth it,” Barela said.

Emergency phones on the campus parking lots dispatch to Auraria police, who are available 24 hours a day. When the phone is picked up, the blue light on top of the phone pole flashes and can be seen from far away.

“I haven’t responded to a phone in about a year. A lot of people have never utilized it and don’t know of its effectiveness,” Barela said.

Traffic issues were also a main concern that will escalate with the new light-rail system.

Barela mentioned the restructuring plans the Regional Transportation District has for the Auraria west campus light-rail station.

“All this money was just spent to build this, and now RTD is tearing it down. After Nov. 17, I would avoid the construction areas,” Barela said.

Another traffic concern is the daycare center, because as cars turn east, there are no arrows, and a constant flow of traffic and light-rail trains make it difficult to get into the center. “I’m shocked nobody has been hit,” Coogan said. When the new light-rail system is fully operable, a train will pass that point every three minutes.

“We all have to be a part of safety,” Coogan said at the end of the event.