Page 32 - AUCSO Newsletter - Winter 2023

Striking the balance:

How visible should campus

security be?

Four security leaders in the US talk strategies for finding the right level of visibility for effective safety and
security operations within higher education. Full Story Here: Security Magazine

For colleges and universities, public safety can be a balancing act.
On the one hand, campus police want to be seen. “We want to display visibility for the deterrence value,
and also to demonstrate availability: That we are here when you need us, making sure that your
surroundings are secure,” says Ruth Evans, Arcadia University Public Safety Director.
At the same time, campus security officers don’t want to come on too strong. “What we’re trying to avoid
is an unnecessary feeling of surveillance and overwhelming police presence,” says University of Maryland
Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety David Mitchell.
So, how can campus safety and security teams strike a balance when it comes to the visibility of security
on campus without overwhelming students, staff and visitors? We asked four campus security leaders to
talk about their strategies.

Mentoring and Caring
At Arcadia University, with about 4,000 students, 2,000 of whom live on campus, campus security aims to
be a source of support. “We do a lot of mentoring and caring. That’s the atmosphere we’ve created here,”
Evans says. “We don’t want to appear overly aggressive and too authoritative.”
To generate that caring and supportive atmosphere, Evans takes a strategic approach to the ways in which
security personnel are deployed on campus.

“We divide our patrols. If I start out the day patrolling buildings A, B and C, then later this afternoon I
may change patterns and patrol sectors C, A and then B, so it’s not too much and not too little,” Evans
says.

Evans adds that the campus is divided into three sections, with one officer responsible for all buildings
and locations within their sector. How they patrol that sector is up to the officer’s discretion, she says. “Of
course, we pay special attention to sensitive areas, like the chemistry labs, and to heavily-occupied events,
like athletics, where we’re having a lot of community members engaged. At big events you’re obviously
going to have a much more visible presence,” she says.

In order to ensure campus security officers remain visible when needed, Evans leverages a combination of
security assets. “We do vehicle patrols, we have golf carts, and most of the time we’re on foot. The golf
cart can be on the sidewalks, the walkways. The vehicle can patrol the exterior of campus, especially at our
three entrances,” she says. “You really need that mix of resources.”

Evans encourages officers not just to be seen, but also to have meaningful engagements with students. “I
was on patrol with one of my officers and he pulled over so that we could talk to a student. He wanted to
follow up with her to see how she did on an exam. I thought that was phenomenal customer service,” she
says.

“We talk about that in the initial interview process, and before they even start their training: That we want
them to be polite, courteous and authoritative, but also supportive,” she says. “Visibility should be part of
that. I don’t hear people saying that they never see public safety, or that public safety doesn’t care. We
want them to know that we are available 24/7.”

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