Safety Survey shows progress, points to opportunities for improvement
By Andy Ober, University Communications
The Wildcat Safety Fair is held annually in October to help students, faculty and staff learn about available campus safety resources, and how to use the SafeCats app. This year's fair is Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Mall.
A smaller percentage of University of Arizona students and employees are identifying places on campus where they feel unsafe, according to findings from the University Safety Survey, which helps guide safety improvements.
The findings come from nearly 4,000 responses to the university's second Safety Survey, collected from March 18-April 8, 2026.
Steve Patterson
The results are encouraging: The percentage of respondents who identified places on campus where they don't feel safe dropped to 33% in 2026, compared to 41% in the first survey in 2024.
"Probably the biggest thing we've done over the last two years is create the SafeCats app, which brings all of our public safety resources together in one place on people's phones," said Chief Safety Officer Steve Patterson. "We've worked to improve classroom security, added UAPD community safety officers and installed public safety cameras around campus."
Patterson said that while the findings reflect progress from these efforts, they also show that there is still work to do.
To guide that work, the Office of Public Safety developed its 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, which identifies creating a culture of safety throughout the campus community as one of its priorities. The plan provides a framework for ongoing efforts to address safety concerns, including those identified in the survey.
Turning feedback into improvements
The survey results show that areas of concern are shifting toward the edges of campus, including parking garages and surrounding streets.
"The University of Arizona campus is much more than a building, or even 200 buildings," Patterson said. "We have to look at the whole campus and how our community moves around it.”
The SafeCats mobile app gives users quick access to safety resources all in one place, including the ability to report concerns directly to the Threat Assessment and Management Team.
Nearly half of respondents who identified an unsafe location cited insufficient lighting as the reason for their concern. Patterson said his office's geographic information systems team is working with University Information Technology Services to develop a lighting map of the entire campus.
"We're taking photographs of campus from above at night to see what lighting levels look like and overlaying that information on our campus plan to identify areas where our community walks, bikes or travels in golf carts, including underpasses and routes between the Student Success District, residence halls and athletics facilities," he said.
The map will help the office compare actual lighting conditions with the places respondents identified and prioritize improvements. Patterson said his team is also working with University Facility Services to evaluate lighting and signage improvements in pedestrian underpasses along Speedway Boulevard, building on recent lighting upgrades at the Warren Avenue underpass.
Mental health and prevention
A vast majority of those who took the survey identified expanding mental health support for students and employees as a high priority. More than three-quarters prioritized expanding sexual assault awareness and prevention programming.
"When it comes to public safety and truly creating a culture of safety on campus, it's not just the Office of Public Safety," said Patterson. "We need to take a multidisciplinary approach."
University of Arizona Police Department Chief Chris Olson explains the function and operation of one an emergency blue light phone during a Safety Stroll for faculty and staff.
University Communications/Jason Ground
The Office of Public Safety works with Campus Health's Counseling and Psych Services, Survivor Support Services and other campus partners on these issues.
Among those efforts is the University of Arizona Crisis Mobile Team, which pairs trained mental health clinicians with University of Arizona Police Department officers responding to people experiencing mental health crises.
The Office of Public Safety also hosts the annual Wildcats Roar Against Sexual Violence 5K and Resource Fair to raise awareness of prevention resources and support services as well a yearly Wildcat Safety Fair. This year's fair is Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Mall.
Spreading the message
Undergraduate student participation in the survey nearly tripled compared with 2024. Patterson said the increase is encouraging because student feedback plays a key role in guiding campus safety efforts. But maintaining that engagement requires ongoing outreach as new students arrive each year.
"Every August, thousands of people arrive on campus who don't know anything about the SafeCats app or the public safety resources available to them," he said.
The office uses several approaches to keep the campus informed and involved, including Safety Strolls, which let students and employees share concerns directly with public safety staff, and the Campus Safety Commission, a group of students, employees and community members who advise the university on safety policies and practices.
Using data to drive decisions
Public safety agencies collect enormous amounts of data, but Aeric Koerner, program supervisor for the Real-Time Coordination Center in the Office of Public Safety, said they have yet to fully tap its potential to make communities safer.
Aeric Koerner
Koerner is also serving as research director for the developing Applied Public Safety Lab, which will use research and data – including results from the University Safety Survey – to inform safety decisions on campus. He said the long-term goal is to help other public safety agencies in the same way.
"Fundamentally, what gets measured gets managed," Koerner said. "And, as a land-grant university, it is our obligation to give back to the community that we are a part of."
One example is already taking shape. After seeing that survey findings showed safety concerns shifting toward the edges of campus, Koerner connected with former colleagues at the Tucson Police Department to analyze crime patterns in those areas. He hopes to identify opportunities for the university and city to work together on solutions.
"We're listening to what the campus is saying," Koerner said. "Now let's take that next step to understand what's going on, what solutions are available, what do we need to learn, and how do we start implementing things that make campus not only feel safer, but be safer too."