UH Administration has continued to make safety a top priority, and I wanted to inform the UH community about many advances the UH Department of Safety has implemented.
Dave Irvin, Associate vice chancellor/associate vice president for Plant Operations and Facilities Management, has spent over $1 million on improved campus lighting alone. The University Administration has provided funding for over 450 security cameras on campus, with a monitoring room and security officers to monitor them, replacement of all old call boxes with the newer Code Blue call boxes and replacment of the entire campus hold-up, burglary and panic alarm system. UH has also funded an emergency notification system (PIER) that allows the University to contact our students, faculty and staff by phone, text message or email in event of an emergency. Approximately 9,000 students and 1,450 faculty and staff have registered their information in the system. You can register your contact information by going to www.uh.edu/emergency. An exterior siren system has been ordered and should also be installed by the end of the semester.
Computer kiosks are being placed in campus buildings to provide information in emergency situations. 80 percent of our campus buildings have a fire alarm system with a speaker system, which allows the broadcast of verbal messages in an emergency. Plans are being developed to bring this capability to the rest of the campus fire alarm systems.
The University DPS files two annual crime reports, the FBI Unified Crime Report and the Jeanne Cleary Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Annual Security Report). The ASR, which provides crime comparison for the reporting year and the two previous years, is the one that you can find online at http://www.uh.edu/police/annual_report.pdf.
The important thing to remember is while both reports provide an accurate picture of crimes reported on campus for that year, they use different reporting methods and may show different numbers for the same offense.
Since I became chief of police in June 2005, the UHDPS has seen an increase of four police officer positions, four security officer positions and four parking enforcement positions. All of the new police officer positions were assigned to the Patrol Division. The new security officers were assigned to the Virtual Patrol Room where our 450 cameras are monitored and recorded 24/7/365. The new parking enforcement assistants, while not police officers, are in the field daily and act as extra eyes and ears for the department. DPS personnel patrol the campus in vehicles, on bicycles and on foot. Our investigative sergeant provides the Patrol Division with a weekly crime-by-location report that allows patrol supervisors to better assign field units.
The department’s job is to develop proactive measures to keep the campus safe and to respond to suspicious or criminal incidents on campus. While you have a fantastic DPS staff dedicated to doing just that, we cannot do it alone. The 50 or so DPS field units need assistance from the 40,000+ UH students, faculty and staff. Report anything you see or hear that looks suspicious or just strange.
Students, faculty and staff can also have a major impact on crime by reducing the opportunity for a crime to occur.
In case of an emergency on campus, call 911 from your cell phone, or 9-911 from a campus phone. The 911 operator will route crime-related calls on campus directly to our dispatch center. Fire and EMS calls will be routed to the Houston Fire Department. For non-emergency calls, please dial (713) 743-3333 from your cell phone or 3-3333 from any campus phone. I would also urge you to check out our website at www.uh.edu/police.
Since 2002, the University has joined together (every fall semester with the UH community) to have a student-sponsored "Walk in the Dark" where all students, faculty and staff are invited by the Student Government Association to tour the campus at night looking for any and all safety issues. A member of both the DPS and Plant Operations take notes on the problems, concerns and suggestions made during the walk and document these problems so we can better serve the safety of UH students. The concerns are documented, and Plant Operations begins the task of prioritizing and locating sources for funding.†Keep your eyes open for upcoming "Walks in the Dark."
Davis, UH Chief of Police, can be reached via [email protected].
