Expanded campus 'Safety Strolls' connect faculty and staff with security resources and leadership

The University of Arizona Office of Public Safety's popular "Safety Strolls" program expanded this year to include a session each semester specifically for U of A faculty and staff. The one-hour walking tours give the campus community an opportunity to meet directly with public safety leaders, ask questions and gain a better understanding of emergency services infrastructure and resources, as well as help identify areas of concern or potential safety improvements.

"There's a lot of work we've done, particularly in classrooms, that sometimes students, faculty and staff don't recognize, or understand why we've done it, and the Safety Strolls are an opportunity to go over all aspects of campus safety," said Steve Patterson, university vice president and chief safety officer, who leads the tours. "We are empowering the community with information. That is what this is about. I hope everyone who joins us on these walks leaves with more tools and an understanding of how to use them to keep themselves and each other safe."

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One of several outreach programs operated by OPS and partner agencies, the safety strolls initially were held monthly with students only. Patterson let the students decide the course of the walks and the topics of discussion, but eventually he realized it would be more effective to create some structure, and he developed the current route, where each stop highlights important aspects of campus safety, notably the system of 233 emergency blue light phones on campus, parking garage guidance, and classroom emergency procedures and equipment such as door locks, emergency defibrillators, "Stop the Bleed" kits and even supplies of naloxone to counter opioid overdoses.

Jamie Matthews, senior associate director for residential education in Housing and Residential Life, participated in the spring semester staff Safety Stroll on Feb. 27 to better understand how students from different dorms navigate campus at night.

"I wanted to understand how students experience things when we do nighttime programs on the Mall," she said. "What is that experience for a student from Babcock, versus a student from Coronado, or for students who live near the stadium? How do they experience getting to and from there? And what resources are available after hours?"

For each Safety Stroll, OPS tries to have senior leaders from various areas of campus on hand, Patterson said. University units represented at the spring stroll included Counseling and Psych Services, Parking and Transportation Services, Risk Management Services, Emergency Management, Facilities Management, Emergency Medical Services and the University of Arizona Police Department. "We want to have people with us who can give a definitive answer to almost any questions and who can address areas of concern," Patterson noted, adding the safety stroll held on Family Weekend each fall receives a similar leadership lineup.

A number of OPS staff members also join the walks – including Deputy Chief Safety Officer Eric Kazmierczak and Threat Assessment and Management Director Jessie Semmann – to help provide perspective on a range of topics and guidance regarding how to address and prevent violent and disruptive behavior.

"We want our campus community to know there's a lot we can do on the front end, before we have to lock doors and pull shades and consider a 'run-hide-fight' scenario," Semmann said. "We want people who come on these walks to consider additional training, such as our 'Spotting Trouble' course available through the university's EDGE Learning system, because we have the most power as a society if we stop violent behavior before it starts."

Among the campus leaders who joined February's foray were Chris Olson, University of Arizona Police Department chief, and Chris Kopach, associate vice president for university facility services.

"These sessions are extremely useful for identifying problem areas for us," Kopach said. "Reports we receive either directly on the walks, or from people who learned about the reporting feature in the LiveSafe app, help us with projects such as our upcoming campuswide lighting survey or identifying and repairing unsafe landscaping."

Olson said he and other leaders participate "to engage with people with a wide range of backgrounds and areas of expertise on campus, to share our experiences working in this beautiful setting to make it better," Olson said. "It's important to make those connections so we can help each other if the need arises, or even before there's a need."

Another attendee was Jacquee Lucas, an operational lead in the Main Library, who is part of the Access and Information Services unit within University Libraries. Her unit, she said, is involved in overseeing safety and security.

"We want to have a good relationship with campus public safety, and it was a good opportunity to meet them," she said, adding that the stroll was very useful.

Matthews agreed that the hour was well worth her time, providing the perspective she sought and giving her ideas about how to better advise dorm residents and helping her feel more secure when she makes her own way across campus.

"I learned a lot that will help me do my job," she said. "But many of the little things we learned were interesting as well. Like, I didn't know that if you're being followed you can activate the blue emergency lights as you go and UAPD dispatchers are trained to notice that pattern and respond."

Patterson said if he could make one suggestion to everyone who uses the U of A campus it would be to download and use the LiveSafe app. He also highly recommends that students take advantage of the SafeRide program sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona and accessible through the TripShot app.

The Office of Public Safety has not yet scheduled the next Safety Stroll for faculty and staff. That date, and the date for the Family Weekend stroll, will be announced sometime this spring. The next session for students will take off from the Global Center on March 25.