Family and Home Security Information

Personal Safety

Residence Halls

• Have your key or access card ready when you approach your door.  Close and lock the door immediately after you enter. 
• Keep your door locked at all times, even when you are at home.  Make an agreement with your roommate(s) that you will take a key or access card with you whenever you are out instead of leaving a door unlocked for each other.
• If you have to step outside of your room even for a minute, lock your door.  It only takes seconds for a thief to enter your room and take your property.

Off Campus

• Have your key ready as you approach your door.  If something appears to be wrong, do not enter your residence.  Call 911 for assistance.  It is better to be safe than sorry.
• Do not hide a key outside of your residence. 
• Keep doors and windows locked with deadbolts.
• Know your neighbors and who you can trust in the event of an emergency.
• Know who is at the door before you open it.  Demand identification from anyone you do not know, particularly repair or sales persons.
• Do not let anyone into your home to use your phone.  Offer to place the call for them while keeping your door locked.

Be Aware of Your Surroundings

• Do not walk alone on campus at night.  Take the shuttle bus or call Public Safety for an escort.
• Know the locations of emergency telephones on campus. 
• Don’t take shortcuts through alleys or vacant lots.
• If you feel that you are being followed, stay in a lighted area and seek safety in a public building.

In Your Car

• Keep your vehicle locked at all times, whether it is parked or you are driving, and keep the windows up.  It’s easy for someone to stick a hand in your vehicle to unlock the door while you are stopped in traffic.
• Have your keys in your hand as you approach your vehicle.
• Check the back seat and floor before you enter.
• Park in well-lit, crowded areas, but avoid parking next to large vehicles such as vans.
• If you have vehicle problems and someone stops to help, roll down the window only an inch and ask him or her to call the police or auto club.
• Never pick up hitchhikers.

Follow Your Instincts

• If something doesn’t feel right to you, listen to your instincts and get out of an area or situation immediately.

Technorati Tags: campus security, campus safety, school safety tips, safety tips,

By: Lexie Clinton, The Daily Cardinal (U. Wisconsin)

Issue date: 4/19/07

MADISON, Wis. – Every campus crime sends shock waves across the isthmus, but the question still remains for every student leaving the University of Wisconsin’s College Library at 3 a.m.: Am I safe?

Talking to different safety experts produced different advice but they all agreed students have a significant role in their own safety.

After hearing about the incidents of sexual assault, abduction and robbery affecting UW-Madison students this school year, Katherine Andriole, assistant program director at Security on Campus, a nonprofit, said students need to recognize the Madison environment simply may not be safe.

“If there really is a safety concern on campus, it is not a wise decision to walk home late at night, regardless whether you’ve been drinking or you’re walking home from the library,” Andriole said. “Avoid any vulnerable situation that you could put yourself in when you know your campus is not safe,” she said.

The UW-Madison Police Department suggests when walking alone one should “walk in a brisk manner on well-lighted streets away from bushes or alleys,” “have keys and cell phone accessible,” while keeping hands free and maintaining an assertive posture.

Also, UWPD Lt. Eric Holen said, “If someone has a perception that they’re not safe, hopefully they’ll use some of the resources available that are designed to make them safer.”

Students regularly use university-funded resources, like SAFEwalk, SAFEride and SAFEbus. But in some situations, the resources do not always cater to the student on the go.

“I usually wait for the bus, but sometimes it just takes too long and you don’t know if it’s coming soon, so I end up walking,” said UW-Madison sophomore Lauren Dahlin.

In situations like this, Erin Weed, author of “Girls Fight Back!: The College Girl’s Guide to Protecting Herself,” recognizes walking alone is inevitable.

“I’ve heard many personal safety experts give advice like, ‘Whatever you do, never ever walk alone at night.’ What? Is that even practical or possible?” Weed writes in her book.

Instead, Weed says fight back.

If an attacker does approach, Weed says it is important to create verbal and physical boundaries. She recommends using this phrase: “Stop. Leave me alone. I don’t want any problems.”

When words are not enough, Weed recommends using physical force. She says even the smallest frames can effectively fight back.

Some basic tips include using the heel of the palm to upwardly strike an attacker’s nose, bending down to the ground to build up forceful kicks or using carefully placed eye jabs.

Taking a self-defense class is the best possible way to train the body, Weed says, and UW-Madison provides students with that option.

There is a Chimera Self Defense Program offered in Gordon Commons that teaches verbal assertiveness skills and physical techniques to reduce the risk of harassment and assault. A six-hour course is $20. [There are self defense classes available at other locations in other cities and on other university campuses.]

Even if students learn specific techniques and utilize safety resources, being intoxicated can significantly impair their sense of safety, experts say.

“We are constantly seeing cases of sexual assault where alcohol is involved,” Andriole said. “Statistics range anywhere from 60 to 90 percent depending on who you ask, but it’s really common to have the two connected.”

Andriole said students sometimes do not report crimes that happened when they were intoxicated because they think it could somehow be used against them or they could receive a citation.

However, Andriole said victims, particularly those of sexual assault, should not hesitate to contact authorities, regardless if they have been drinking. She said she knew of “no cases off hand where a victim has reported some type of crime and has given context – ‘I was intoxicated’ – and has therefore gotten in trouble.”

Technorati Tags: campus safety, college girls, sexual assault, campus crime, college students, self defense

Every day in the United States alone children suffer and even die from events that could have been avoided.

We cannot package our children in bubbles to protect them from the dangers that are inherant in every day life, but we can be aware and address many of the things that threaten their security.

Our home security authorities will provide child safety information here that will keep you informed as well as be a resource for parents on topics such as  these. 

• Infant, Child and Teenage Safety

• Infant, Child and Teenage Nutrition

• Infant, Child and Teenage Health Issues

• Internet Safety

We provide these articles as resources only and for obvious reasons, can take no legal responsibility for the interpretation of these articles.