Florida State students are no strangers to the dangers of potential robberies and assault. In recent months, the crime rate on campus has begun to increase. Waking up in the morning to emails from the FSU Police Department reporting multiple robberies by multiple assailants in the early hours of the night is enough to make any student fear for their own safety. So how can students keep safe with Florida State University’s “No Weapon Policy” in place?
The policy states that no person can carry a weapon on his or her person. Originally, the policy prevented students and faculty from keeping weapons in their vehicles as well, but that ruling has recently been appealed to allow said weapons locked up in cars.
To those who do not carry guns but do have stun guns, pepper spray, cat self defense key chains, etc., they are also unable to carry these tools of protection on campus. However, there are many different ways to protect yourself against harmful situations on and off campus.
FSU offers multiple self defense classes that are available to all students and faculty. The classes not only teach how to defend yourself, but also how to use moves to safely incapacitate an attacker from further assault to allow you to call for help. Some of the classes offered include Rape Aggression Defense, Lifetime Activities Program, and a variety of other self defense classes that students can get credit for.
If students are ever attacked and need to call the FSUPD, there is a personal safety service that is valid to any student with an FSU ID and currently enrollment in classes at FSU. The FSU Guardian is a new service provided by the FSUPD that allows students to rapidly provide personal information about themselves to the department all through the profile they build that will be accessible to the police department from the registered phone number should they be called. There is even a timer service that tracks the time you go from one location to the next to help the FSUPD find your accurate location.
“FSU Guardian can also provide police with GPS coordinates from your phone—if available—which can decrease response time and allow first responders to locate you should you not be able to give them your location.” – FSPUPD
Helpful information can be found here: http://www.police.fsu.edu/FSU-Guardian. While self-defense weapons are still not allowed on campus, they can legally be on your person in the city of Tallahassee as long as they are only used in self-defense situations. For those unable to take the classes the university provides and would like additional protection, pepper spray can be found in stores such as Wal-Mart. The cat self defense keychain is not only useful to keep your keys together, it can also be used to defend yourself with the pointy ears made of a durable and unbreakable plastic material. It is only $5.99 and can be found at the following link: http://www.wickedclothes.com/products/cat-self-defense-keychain. To those interested in stun guns, they come in many different shapes and sizes, and they are designed to look as non-threatening as possible to the unsuspecting assailant. They are reasonably priced and pack a punch. They can be found at http://buycheetahstunguns.com/.