In a campus at the heart of downtown, Georgia State’s restless police department has strived to make all university grounds a safe place to walk and explore, all day and night. And we know you’re likely to have those late-night library sessions, so here’s a couple numbers and info you’ll want to jot down.
Photo by Jade Johnson | The Signal
1. Look out for call boxes
The university has installed over 60 call boxes all around campus, from parking decks, plaza areas, classroom buildings and residence halls. Students need only press one button inside these blue flashing boxes in order to be immediately connected to a police dispatcher. Officers are instantly alerted of a student’s location according to the call box they call from. For more information, and specific call box locations, students can visit Georgia State’s Safety & Security webpage.
2. Remember GSUPD is here to help
Whatever the time, it’s usually easy to spot one of the 70 police officers working on the Atlanta campus. But the Georgia State Police Department, with over 115 officers on all five campuses, has set up a number of patrols to keep students safer. The university’s bike patrol system has been active for over 15 years, with 10-15 officers biking around on each shift.
For late-night lonely walkers, the university has set up escort vans available from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., Mondays through Thursdays. On Fridays, the van runs until 11 p.m. One security officer is assigned to each van and drives students to and from all university buildings, as well as nearby MARTA stations and parking lots. Safety escorts for Georgia State students are free of charge, and usually come with a fun chat with the officer!
Past 1 a.m. students who want to be escorted to their car or residence may call the Georgia State police department and have a police officer pick them up in one of those fancy GSUPD cars. For an on-campus emergency, students are urged to call 3-3333, the university’s emergency number.
The university police department has a 24/7 functioning office in the University Commons, which monitors 600 cameras set up all around Georgia State housing facilities. For better residence safety, guests and friends are required to be checked in by the student living in the university’s halls. If students see suspicious activity around the residence halls, police recommend calling 404-413-3333 immediately.
In classroom buildings and the library, you can also spot security guards performing various activities for the benefit of every Panther. You’ll find them either guarding a classroom or building, escorting and helping students. Lately, such duties have shifted focus to increasing security at the library, so every student that enters has to present their Georgia State ID with their picture, and be given ‘the nod’ by a guard before entering the building.
3. Learn safety skills
Georgia State also has its very own Investigations unit. Picking up criminal case reports from the Patrol Unit, the Investigations unit contacts the victims of each case whether they have filed charges or not. Once a case is opened, an investigator is assigned and goes through crime scenes, conducts interviews, creates a suspect list and is responsible for carrying out the entire investigation.
To help avoid an investigation from taking place, the university’s Crime Prevention unit conducts training programs and deals with personal safety. This unit is responsible for informing the student body on ways to keep safe, current crime trends, as well as conduct free classes on essential safety skill sets to have. The most popular one, “Fight to Flight” is aimed at teaching women how to defend themselves when under attack, how to avoid an attack, and how to steer away from dangerous situations.
4. Save these numbers in your phone
404-413-3333 – Georgia State Campus Police
404-413-2100 – Non-Emergencies and Safety Escorts
404-413-3234 – Information Desk
404-413-3203 – Hearing Impaired
404/413-3333, 3-333 – Emergency
5. Keep your phone close for alerts
After a string of theft incidents, university President Mark Becker addressed the student body in a campus-wide e-mail, letting us know that not only was he displeased with the school’s slow response time in alerting students of on-going emergencies, but that the police station needed a major shake-up. So there ya have it! A brand new chief leading your police department, Acting Chief, Carlton Mullis, has taken over the big seat, after years and years of working for the university. And alerts? Text alerts, phone calls, tweets and e-mails have been created to go out on the spot when an emergency occurs – or at least, that’s what Becker and Mullis promised.
