By Megan Tweddell
Keeping a campus community of thousands of people safe includes everything from conducting fire drills in the dorms to promoting a personal defense class for women.
In order for the university police department to make sure people in charge know their responsibilities, there are regular fire drills for on-campus housing.
“It prepares the students to evacuate the building and know where to go, and it gives the new resident advisers and directors some experience with the situations,” Cpl. Ted Guerrero of the University Police Department said. “They did great. Watching them bang on doors and communicating back with each other yelling, ‘clear’”” it’s great.”
The campus is equipped with exterior loudspeakers, Guerrero said, and they are on the corner of almost every building to inform students of what to do during an emergency.
He said that, on the police chief’s command, someone is assigned to announce over the speakers during an emergency to inform students and faculty of what to do.
The police department usually has tables set to distribute emergency preparedness information at most Fresno State events. Guerrero said they are available at Dog Days with pamphlets on everything the campus community needs to know about safety. People can also pick up any of the pamphlets at the police department office.
There are also resources in places for individuals to learn how to protect themselves.
One way to keep women on campus safe, Guerrero said, is the Rape Aggression Defense program, which is designed to educate women on “realistic self-defense tactics and techniques.”
Guerrero said during the 12-hour course women learn how to protect themselves.
“They put them in situations where they will have hands-on [instruction] with the student and the officer in the red man suit,” Guerrero said. “They will actually go in kicking and striking. They basically prepare them to not be a victim and prepare them to defend themselves.”
A class for the program will run Sept. 27-29. The classes are open to all women age 14 and above and require a fee.
The 2012 Annual Safety & Security/Fire Safety Report showed that most arrests that occurred on campus were drug related. In 2009, 23 people were arrested for drug law violations, 43 people were arrested in 2010 and 33 people were arrested in 2011.
The highest number of disciplinary referrals given on campus each year from 2009 to 2011 was for liquor law violations. In 2009, 147 people were issued disciplinary referrals, 154 people in 2010 and 179 people on 2011.
The most commonly reported crime on campus from 2009 to 2011 was burglary. There were 44 burglary cases in 2009, 12 in 2010 and 29 in 2011.
Cameras are located throughout the campus, and Guerrero said it’s a good idea to park near the cameras in the parking lot. The cameras aid in preventing any vehicle thefts or solving burglaries and also allow the police department to monitor the flow of traffic in parking lots.
“They can determine if we need to put parking personnel in place to help guide people to park in a different area of campus,” Guerrero said.
Students walking on campus will also occasionally come across emergency phones with blue flashing lights activated at night.
“Once any of the emergency phones on campus are activated, the phone call goes directly to our dispatch and it pops up exactly where the phone is located,” Guerrero said. “It is a bright strobe and that also helps the officer to the phones. While the activator light is on, you can have constant interaction with the dispatcher.”
Guerrero said if anyone ever witnesses any activity that they feel the police department should know about, they can now text message, call or go online and report it anonymously.
“For example, if somebody is stealing a bicycle and you are nearby, you don’t want to pick up the phone; the first thing the guy is going to think is you’re calling police on him,” Guerrero said. “If you’re texting, everybody texts, so you can put your message out — say ‘bicycle theft in progress,’ ‘suspicious person in the area,’ give any information that is important.”