Employee feedback informs campus safety enhancements
The Office of Public Safety has been using survey feedback to help prioritize its efforts over the last year, including improving campus lighting, increasing mental health support and expanding safety training for students and employees.
In the year since nearly 3,000 students and faculty and staff members shared their thoughts on campus safety through a campuswide survey, the Office of Public Safety has been working to address feedback from the community through targeted safety programs and infrastructure projects. The initiatives include improving campus lighting, increasing mental health support and expanding safety training for students and employees.
"First and foremost, the goal here was to listen and respond," said Eric Kazmierczak, deputy chief safety officer with the Office of Public Safety. "We value the feedback from our campus community, whether it's about areas for improvement or things we're doing well. It's all about hearing what matters to them and acting on it."
Eric Kazmierczak, Deputy Chief Safety Officer, Office of Public Safety
Kazmierczak was pleased to see that 60% of faculty and staff generally feel safe on campus, calling it a reflection of efforts to centralize safety measures and implement changes since the office opened in May 2023. He said the results of the survey helped the office focus its priorities and work with campus partners to strengthen efforts in three main areas: perceptions of safety on campus, including lighting, security camera coverage and building security; safety programs, such as mental health support and sexual violence awareness; and education and communication, including emergency alert messaging and safety training.
Perceptions of safety on campus
The University of Arizona is a very safe community, but ensuring that students and employees feel safe is among the top priorities of the Office of Public Safety, said Chris Olson, assistant vice president and chief of the University of Arizona Police Department.
"Those can be two different things," Olson said. "While we know this is a safe place to live and work, ensuring that people feel safe is just as important, and that's where we must be hyper-vigilant in our efforts."
Chris Olson, University of Arizona Police Chief
About 40% of survey respondents, including 32% of employees, said there was at least one area of campus where they felt less safe. Kazmierczak says work is underway to improve lighting in areas of concern, including parking garages, busy streets and underpasses.
"The Facilities Management folks are working on a campuswide lighting survey and Parking & Transportation Services are doing a lighting assessment in the parking garages," he said. "And crews have already been out to the underpasses under Speedway to enhance the lighting there."
Olson said UAPD worked with Parking & Transportation Services to hire private security in the parking garages and to put cameras up in the Honors Village Garage to see if they help prevent criminal incidents.
"Cameras can also help us hold people accountable if they do commit crimes in those garages," Olson said. "People pay good money to park their vehicles in those garages and we want them to feel secure."
The office is also working with Facilities Management on building security, with plans for all major buildings to have CatCard-controlled electronic access by July 1.
Safety programs
More than 80% of survey respondents said mental health support should be a high priority. To boost access to mental health resources, UAPD partnered with Counseling & Psych Services to launch the University of Arizona Crisis Mobile Team, which responds to mental health crises on campus by providing de-escalation, assessment and support services.
CAPS is expanding sexual assault awareness and prevention programming in partnership with Greek Life and Athletics, an effort in response to 73% of survey participants who said they believe expanded sexual assault awareness and prevention programming should be a high priority.
UAPD has rebranded the role of community service officers, previously known as safety aides. CSOs are non-sworn full-time employees and part-time student employees who assist with tasks that don't require police authority. Olson said the department is making CSOs more visible by outfitting full-time employees in gray uniforms and part-time student employees in red uniforms.
"The CSOs can take police reports on crimes like larceny and criminal damage," Olson said. "They can provide guidance and information to the public and help connect them to other offices on campus so they can get the help they need."
About 40% of survey respondents said increasing the number of campus security officers should be a high priority. Olson added that the 11 full-time and six part-time student CSOs play a crucial role in increasing the department's presence on campus.
Education and communication
A key component of the ongoing efforts is to take a proactive approach to safety. About 75% of all respondents said they were interested in further training on handling concerning or threatening behaviors before they become significant safety issues.
"I was very happy that our campus was interested in more training because that was such a big focus for me coming into my role," said Jessie Semmann, director of the university's Threat Assessment and Management Team. "I really wanted to make it a big priority for TAMT to train our campus on conflict resolution and de-escalation skills that can help prevent bad situations from getting worse."
Jessie Semmann, Director, Threat Assessment and Management Team
TAMT has launched two trainings through EDGE Learning, aiming to equip the campus community with skills to handle threatening behaviors before they escalate. "Spotting Trouble: Understanding Targeted Violence" teaches learners to recognize warning signs of targeted violence and how TAMT can assist. "From Conflict to Collaboration: Building Peaceful Relationships" focuses on recognizing problematic behavior in the workplace and using conflict resolution and de-escalation skills to address it.
"We know that good conflict resolution and de-escalation skills can prevent situations from reaching a point where safety becomes a concern," Semmann said. "By teaching people to handle conflict in healthier ways, we hope to see a more positive campus culture where fewer issues escalate into safety threats."
The office has also expanded its "Safety Strolls" program to include a session each semester specifically for faculty and staff. The program allows students and employees to participate in a one-hour walking tour, learn about public safety efforts ask questions of leaders. The office hopes to further grow the effort in the future by designing Safety Strolls for interested classes, offices and departments.
In addition to training efforts, the Office of Public safety is focusing on improving communication systems to ensure the campus community stays informed during emergencies. UAPD is evaluating the performance of the UAlert notification system following each use and incorporating feedback to work toward more efficient messaging.
The path ahead
Kazmierczak said the Office of Public Safety plans to conduct a safety survey every few years to make sure it continues to respond to ongoing feedback from the campus community. In the meantime, those who want to offer feedback can do so by emailing publicsafety@arizona.edu.
"I just wanted to stress the fact that this is a team effort," he said. "The strong response to the survey shows me that people are interested in being part of this conversation."
Olson expressed optimism about moving forward, highlighting increased collaboration in campus safety.
"Everywhere I look, we are getting help in doing our job," he said.