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Protect Yourself
Take proper steps to ensure your protection while on or off campus. Here are some suggestions that may keep you safe. In an emergency, use the yellow emergency call boxes to contact UPD. THis is a fast way to report a crime or summon assistance. Activation of the instrument in an emergency will cause a police officer to be sent immediately to your area.
- Be cautious and familiar with your surroundings.
- Be familiar with everyone in your housing facility and confront anyone that should not be there.
- Keep front doors locked especially at night or when alone.
- Lock the door even if leaving only for a brief period of time.
- Report unlocked doors and windows.
- Do not open doors for strangers. Identify a visitor before allowing them access. Contact the front desk or UPD if the visitor appears threatening.
- Report all suspicious calls to a staff member. If the caller identifies themselves as a police officer, call 245-2805 to confirm their identity.
- Never give your credit card number over the phone unless you placed the call.
- Travel in a group at night or early morning.
- Alert a roommate, friend or staff member as to your destination and when you expect to return.
- Travel in well-lit areas. (Notify staff of poorly lit locations.)
- Avoid shortcuts through dark or deserted areas.
- Avoid exterior laundry rooms and stairwells.
- Walk facing traffic in order to better judge potential traffic hazards and decrease the possibility of being followed by someone in a vehicle.
- Step away from alleys and recessed doorways.
- Call the Bobcat Bobbies to be escorted on campus. The Bobcat Bobbies are available from 7:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and can be reached at 245-2890.
- Park in a well-lit area and hold the keys in your hand for self-defense.
- Never leave keys in your car, even if you plan on being gone from your car only a few moments.
- Keep your car doors locked when riding in any vehicle! Be alert and aware of unusual or suspicious activities in your area.
- Do not drive home if you are being followed. Drive to a police station, fire station or busy service station and honk.
- Do not get out of your car unless you are positive you can make it inside safely.
Protect Your Personal Property
The university will not be liable for damages or losses to person or property caused by other persons, theft, burglary, assault, vandalism or other crimes, fire, flood, water leaks, rain, hail, ice, snow, smoke, explosions, interruptions of utilities, or other natural phenomena, unless same is due to the negligence of the university. The university requires each student to secure, at their own expense, insurance to protect against loss from the above mentioned occurrences. The student agrees to hold harmless and indemnify the university for claims or damages payable as a result of negligence or acts of omissions to act by the student or any other persons in violation of this contract or university policy. Here are some tips to protect your property.
- Engrave valuable items with your name and possibly driver’s license number. (Available at UPD, as well as Clear Springs and Comanche Hill Apartments.)
- Mark items that are regularly taken to class such as books, backpacks and calculators.
- Do not leave unattended valuables in plain sight and do not keep large sums of cash in your room or apartment.
- Arrange rooms so that high risk items such as cameras, stereos, televisions, etc., are not visible from the hallway or street when the doors or windows are open.
- Secure bicycles/mopeds when unattended with an oversized shackle-style bicycle lock, or a lock and chain/cable combination with at least 5/8” diameter chain or steel and a padlock, preferably one with a hardened case and shank diameter of at least 3/8 inches.
- Consider renter’s insurance to protect against loss or damage of property or check your family’s homeowner’s insurance to see if you are covered while away from home.
- Keep a list of bank accounts, credit cards and I.D. card numbers in a safe place in the event a purse/wallet is lost or stolen.
- Notify the police of a theft or loss
- Notify card issuing companies and banks. If notified within 24 hours, an individual’s total liability for loss is limited in most cases to $50-per-card.