“Beautiful”, “big”, “inside its own bubble”, these are some adjectives that pre-college, summer orientation Zoё would have used to describe our campus. Bright-eyed and incredibly nervous to start the next chapter in my somewhat sheltered life, UCF seemed like a safe choice for me. A little far from home but just close enough if an emergency ever happened. I remember my parents coming out of their awkward adult orientation telling me the reassuring words they had heard from the UCF police chief. 70 sworn law enforcement officers, 150 Emergency Blue Light Phones, and countless student escorts safe-guarding the whole campus. Everything was going to be just fine; their baby girl was in safe hands. Unfortunately, the mentality that our school is “inside its own bubble” could not be further from the truth (not the first lesson that my pre-college self had to learn). The fact is we go to a public college where anyone, at anytime, has the right to come walk onto campus.
In this past semester, the amount of life-threatening crimes that have occurred in and around the UCF campus have put the entire community on edge. Some of these crimes include armed robberies from students’ homes and vehicles, a domestic violence dispute where a woman got pushed from a moving vehicle, a man getting arrested outside of the Nicholson School for stalking a student, countless off-campus shootings, and even a bomb threat to the Student Union. All of these crimes have culminated into an anxiety filled student body looking towards officers for guidance and security.
Student safety has become a growing trend in our nation as school shootings have become an enormous societal issue. Though we think it would never happen to us, recent events have shown that the potential for violent crimes to happen on campus is not as low as we think. It was not long ago that our neighbors at FSU had a gunman enter their library and open fire on innocent studiers, injuring three in the process. FSU police officers were commended for their impeccable response time and quick reaction to the situation after successfully stopping the shooter. Not oblivious to the incident, in December UCF police made preparations to ensure the safety of our own students preparing for their final exams. On the UCF campus the very next day, positioned between the Reflecting Pond and the President Hitt Library, was a K-9 unit squad car. Heightened security detail should have left students feeling secure; however, the additional safety precaution left an eerie feeling of foreboding.
Though this response from UCF Police was admirable for its timely nature, ultimately it was only a temporary fix for the more severe problem. Students are looking towards campus leaders to take initiative and develop increased safety plans with the UCF Police Department and Orange County Police Department. In an interview with Knightly News last week, recently voted SGA President and Vice President Cait Zona and Jarell Jones were asked which platform point of theirs they would address first, and they responded that student safety was currently their priority. Cait and Jarell’s initial platform only lists advocating for video cameras in parking lots and garages as an increased safety measure, which though helpful, would be expensive and only fix part of our overall safety problem. Although most crimes this last semester involving students have occurred on campus, more dangerous and life-threatening crimes are occurring in neighborhoods just outside of UCF every day, including shootings and robberies. However, when speaking with Knightly News, they mentioned that they are willing to work with Orange County Police for issues out of the UCF Police Department jurisdiction to ensure safety for off-campus students. A potential solution that has been discussed is installing more light fixtures in dark neighborhoods so visibility is increased and potential victims are more aware of their surroundings. This too though beneficial would be a financial burden to tax payers and may not entirely fix the problem.
As an overly anxious and generally safety conscious student, getting the ominous “UCF Alert” text messages always makes me panic a little, but something to keep in mind is that compared to other schools our campus is actually are one of the safest in the state of Florida. According to CollegeFactual.com, UCF campus received a “B+” rating based on factors such as forcible sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft. Compared to other public universities in Florida, the number of reports for these crimes is significantly lower than UF, FSU, UWF, and USF. Overall, our largest challenge safety-wise is the location our fine university. While it is not nearly as large or dangerous as other large cities, Orlando is still a major metropolitan area that faces higher crime rates. Ultimately, UCF has little to no control over the safety of students in the jurisdiction outside of the campus, which is where most of the criminals are coming from. So how can students stay safe when our big, beautiful campus is constantly under attack from illegal actions from people that cannot be controlled? It really is up to us. Orange County Police has an incredibly large jurisdiction and we as students should be more realistic about our expectations of law enforcement officers. They cannot be patrolling every street up and down Alafaya at all times; as students need to be held more accountable for safeguarding each other. Help friends get home safely after going out, do not let anyone walk alone at night, always report suspicious activity, and never, EVER, leave your doors unlocked. Some of these things seem to be common sense, but if you ask the victims of some of the horrible crimes that have been committed this past year they would heed the same advice. Safety can never be 100% guaranteed, that is just life, but with help from law enforcement, student leaders, and more responsibility on our part, we can improve our protection. Especially for the poor, scared, naïve freshmen that will be flooding the campus soon. Stay safe UCF.