University of West Georgia
Annual Report 2005
Department of Public Safety
I.
Mission
Statement
The
Department of Public Safety is responsible for providing police protection,
transportation services, parking control and locksmith service to the
University Community. The police operation serves the campus 24 hours a day,
preventing crime through constant patrol, presenting educational programs and
investigating and prosecuting those who commit crimes on campus. The Parking
Services Division provides reliable shuttle service to all facilities on
campus. The Division is also tasked with providing safe and reliable
transportation to student groups traveling off campus to participate in
athletic, academic or social events. Parking control personnel, through
enforcement of the University’s parking code and maintenance of the traffic and
parking signage, keep traffic flowing smoothly through campus. The Lock Shop
maintains the security of the campus by maintaining the locks, re-keying doors
as necessary, and keeping track of the personnel issued keys to the campus.
II.
Department Statement of Goals / Assessment Process /
Assessment Results
Public Safety seeks to provide as safe a campus as
possible so as to allow students and faculty to teach, learn and perform
research without fear of crime or disturbance. Crime statistics are monitored
to assess any change in the amount of crime as well as to determine “hot
spots”. Identifying trouble spots allows us to move personnel into the area in
order to deter future incidents. The Department seeks to provide through the
shuttle service and parking enforcement, the orderly and rapid movement of
people throughout the campus. By maximizing the use of existing parking
facilities through an efficient transportation system, the University is better
able utilize its limited resources to support the academic mission of the
University. Parking spaces are inventoried at the beginning of the school year.
We then count the available spaces during the peak times. From this we are able
to project if additional parking must be provided.
In
January of 2005 a customer satisfaction survey was conducted for the Department
of Public Safety to measure how the University Community perceives the
Department, its personnel and the level of crime on campus. The survey was
distributed January 5th through the 19th, 2005 via e-mail
to faculty, staff and students. 115 individuals completed the survey with the
majority of the respondents being staff 63%) followed by faculty (34%) and students (1%).
Results
The
majority of the respondents rated the Department as GOOD TO EXCELLENT
(85%) with 10% ranking it as AVERAGE and 7% FAIR TO POOR. The
majority had requested some service from Public Safety during Fall 2004 with
those requests varying from reporting a crime (14%), sought medical assistance
(7%), needed assistance with their vehicle (16%), lock/unlock a door (27%),
responded to an alarm (27%), brought a problem to an administrator (35%) or other
(38%).
When
asked if the Public Safety staff members were courteous when dealing with the
respondent, 94% rated the employee as courteous or no opinion was offered. Those who rated the staff as discourteous varied by position with
the police officers receiving the least (0%) to administrators with the highest
(7%).
In
terms of crime, the majority of respondents (69%) perceive the level of crime
on campus as remaining the same or decreasing since they came to West Georgia. The remainder feel
that crime has increased. However, the majority state that they have not
limited their activities on campus nor changed how they move about the campus
(85% versus 15%). No one has considered crime at UWG to be significant enough
to consider moving to another University.
The
survey also questioned how safe respondents’ felt when walking across campus during the day
compared to at night. During the day, 93% stated they were not concerned, and
0% stated they were very concerned. However at night, 29% were not concerned
while 53% stated they were concerned and 18% very concerned. When asked if
during the day they were concerned about being a victim of physical assault,
92% said they were not concerned, while 8% said they were concerned and no one
stated they were very concerned. However at night, 41% stated they were not
concerned while 42% were concerned and 18% were very concerned.
Comments
Offered
The
comments offered as part of the survey centered around
increasing the enforcement of the parking code and increasing the number and
visibility of the police officers, especially at night. Several commented that
they have not seen an officer at night. There is also a request for more
educational programs related to crime prevention and a suggestion for a student
patrol, which could offer escorts at night.
It
is planned to do an additional survey next year, which will track the views and
opinions of the student body, who were under-represented in this survey.
III.
The Department Statement of Outcomes / An Example
From the survey results it appears our greatest concern about crime is in
the nighttime hours. It is the perception of those who took part in the survey
that the campus is less safe do to the lack of a visible police presence as
well as concerns about lighting, specifically on the east side of campus. As a result of these concerns, the following
actions have been taken.
First, the east side of campus in the area of the
residence halls was resurveyed to ensure the lighting in the area met current,
national lighting standards. It was found that the light levels can be
improved. Five additional pole lights are being added during the summer break.
Second,
the Bike Patrol will be expanded by two additional officers (to a total of
four) and they will be provided with ATV’s in addition to the bicycles. These
are new positions so there will be a net increase in police presence when those
officers join the shift. This unit operates from 7:00 PM to 3:00 AM and
traditionally concentrates their patrol on the residence halls. This concept
has been reviewed and it was determined the officers would provide a greater
service to the campus if their patrol area were expanded to include the
academic areas during the evening classes. This could be accomplished without
lessening the level of safety in the residence halls due to the increase in the
number of officers working, the use of a higher visibility patrol vehicle (the
ATV) and the fact that the halls for the most part surround the academic
facilities. The Bike Patrol officers will patrol between the buildings, leaving
the Evening and Morning Watch officers to handle the parking lots from the
marked patrol cars.
Third,
the Department is enhancing the number and quality of crime prevention programs
offered. New pamphlets and presentations are being created which will be
offered in the residence halls and for commuter students. Two officers have
been sent to Rape Aggression Defense Classes, which is a nationally recognized
method of self -defense for women. These classes will be offered throughout the
year to female students and staff. It is our belief that an effective crime
prevention program will raise awareness of the potential for crime on campus
and teach the community how not to become a victim of crime. An informed public,
working with the police, will make for a safer campus.
IV. Health of the Department
Salary continues to be a major issue for Public Safety,
especially in the police division. This past year the officers received an
increase of $2,500 which was very much appreciated. However, this still places
our starting wage for certified personnel $4,000 to $5,000 less than many of
the surrounding agencies we compete with for police officers. The cost of
sending an officer through the police academy is now over $8,000. It takes a
year after the academy before the officer is capable of performing the many
tasks expected of him or her without constant supervision. This makes retaining
the officers more cost effective than hiring new ones. It is hoped that similar
salary increases will be made in subsequent years so that we are able to reach
the goal of providing salaries within 95% of what our main competitors are
paying.
Eventually
there is a need for a professional standards officer who would be tasked with expanding
our training program, developing and maintaining policy, and obtaining state
certification. The training requirements for the police and shuttle operators
are becoming more extensive. Coordinating personnel to attend off campus
classes and maintaining records for certification purposes has become a burden
to current staff who have other assigned duties. We do
not have a fully operational policy manual. Once that manual is completed it is
critical that it be maintained in accordance with current state and national
standards. This is a very time consuming but necessary duty. Certification for
our Department is as important as it is for the academic units. It demonstrates
a level of competency by Public Safety and its personnel, which not only adds to
the prestige of the University, but is important when dealing with liability
issues in court.
We
need an additional dispatcher that would work a split between Evening and
Morning Watch to ensure two dispatchers are always on during the critical
hours. I would also like to provide the additional 416 hours needed to make the
part-time dispatcher on the Morning Watch full-time.
There
is a growing need for an additional locksmith. The size of the campus is
increasing and so are the demands on our sole locksmith. With the new residence
halls and Adamson Hall coming on line, he is now responsible for 1600
additional locks and doors.
Our patrol fleet of marked and unmarked units is in poor
condition. The average number of miles on our marked units is 89,166 and on the
unmarked units is 142,834. We have purchased two new
vehicles in 2005 which will improve the situation but there is a further need
to replace aging vehicles. We also have a need for an additional administrative
vehicle as we now have three investigators and a captain sharing one vehicle.
At the north precinct we share one car between two administrators but the
vehicle is also used to provide transportation for officers attending the
training center in Forsyth and elsewhere within the state.
VI.
Department Achievements
Public
Safety has invested heavily in technology, training, and planning in recent
years. We were able to utilize these assets during the hurricane season of
2004. Public Safety monitored each storm and kept the Administration informed
of the track and if the storm would effect the campus. During Hurricane Ivan,
the only storm that truly threatened the campus, Public Safety tracked the
storm from the Atlantic through the Gulf. When
it appeared that the campus would be in the path of the storm, the University Command Center
was made operational. Staff tested and distributed emergency lighting at
predetermined points in the event it was needed after the storm hit. Emergency
lightsticks were distributed throughout the residence halls and portable radios
issued to the senior Residence Life Staff. Public Safety vehicles were
dispersed throughout campus so that in the event roads became impassable, not
all of the emergency vehicles would be trapped. Barricades and cones were also
dispersed at various locations in case they were needed to block down power
lines or other hazards. Staffing was arranged so that half of the Department
was available any given point to respond to campus while the other half was
rested. Though the storm did not do any significant damage to campus, it was a
good test of the procedures that had been developed and the equipment obtained
to deal with an emergency.
VII.
Staff Productivity
In
the past year Public Safety has provided the following training to its staff.
1) Sent one staff member to Boston for annual
training on the records management system. She also attended the Georgia Chiefs
of Police Administrative Assistant workshop at Helen GA.
2) Sent one officer to the
International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators conference
in Kansas City Missouri.
3) The Department’s firearms
instructors attended the annual meeting of the Georgia Law Enforcement Firearms
Instructors.
4) The Director attended the
International Chiefs of Police Conference in Los Angeles California.
He also attended the winter and summer conferences of the Georgia Chiefs of
Police in Atlanta and Savannah respectively. He attended the
Governor’s Emergency Management Conference in Savannah as well as the quarterly meetings of
the Georgia Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.
5) All patrol officers received at
minimum their 20 hours of required training. Officers have also received
certification in the use of laser for speed detection and the breathalyzer.
6) Two investigators attended the
sex crimes investigator school at the University of Louisville.
7) Two investigators attended the
homicide investigations seminar sponsored by the Carroll County Sheriff’s
Office.
8) Two officers attended the Rape
Aggression Defense seminar. This will allow them to teach basic self-defense to
female students.
9) One officer attended driving
instructor class as well as ATV instructor class.
10) Public Safety sponsored a
customer service class with an invited speaker. The class was opened to all
faculty and staff throughout campus at no charge.
11) Sent
two officers to Taser Instructor Training.
12) Equipped the
patrol vehicles with AEDs and trained all certified officers in
there use.
VIII.
Student Achievements
NA
IX.
Other Awards and
Distinctions
Four Dispatchers received State Certification
Four Police Officers obtain State
Certification
