UD Public Safety continues to strive toward security on campus

By: Roger Hoke – Staff Writer

The University of Dayton Department of Public Safety is in the midst of another semester of trying to keep the community and students safe.

The crime log, which is available for student viewing weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., lists the criminal acts reported to the Department of Public Safety over the past 60 days and where they occurred.

Nearly all offenses recorded in the log deal with minor crimes, but crimes that should not be taken lightly, according to Randy Groesbeck, the director of administration and security of the Department of Public Safety.

“Most of what happens here is relatively minor in nature, as in terms of the offense,” Groesbeck said.

A majority of crimes deal with underage consumption of alcohol, public intoxication or some other form of alcohol abuse.

“I don’t want in any way, shape or form want to downplay the criticality of alcohol violations of the law because it’s a very serious matter, and it’s one that can lead to other offenses; but, on the scale of different legal violations and criminal acts, it’s relatively low on that scale,” Groesbeck said.

As for some of the more major offenses on record, Groesbeck claimed they are serious but are moderately less in quantity.

“Serious crimes here are relatively few in number,” Groesbeck said on the matter of violent and abusive crime. “It’s obvious [from the crime log] that we receive few reports of serious crimes; however, we take every crime seriously.”

As for the past 60 days, or the whole duration of the fall semester, Groesbeck called the amount of crime “normal.”

“I would say it’s been a typical year and we have a certain number of crimes that are reported on a regular basis, or routinely, and I would say that the volume of crime, and the types of crime, have been more or less normal,” Groesbeck said.

Groesbeck spoke of simple ways for students to keep themselves safer and less susceptible to minor crimes, such as theft.

“We publish safety advisors from time to time, and we encourage individuals to secure their belongings, lock their houses, keep valuables out of sight in their parked cars, be aware of who is in your residence and to monitor your guests,” Groesbeck said. “It’s always, in almost every case, very elementary instructions or protocols for people to follow to keep themselves from being victims of crime.”

According to Groesbeck, it is important to keep all of your valuable belongings in private areas, such as bedrooms, under lock and key during any parties or gatherings.

Groesbeck said a new emergency notification system will be made available to students in a short time. Every college and university has made it necessary to have a way to notify students and the community in the case on an emergency, according to Groesbeck.

“Early next week, I will be sending a message out to students and the entire community about enrollment in the emergency notification system,” Groesbeck said.

He said the new system will be in app form and will be more accessible to students than looking through emails or text.

“It will put the message out in a way the students are familiar with, that they like, instead of scrolling through texts or emails,” Groesbeck said. “It will, in my opinion, make a much better way for them to get emergency notifications.”

Follow @FlyerNews to stay up to date with Public Safety’s new emergency notification system.