Safety Awareness Program
The Safety Awareness Program was established in 1992 based on the recommendations of a task force composed of students, faculty, and staff. The program was enhanced in 2008 based on the recommendations of the Campus Safety and Security Committee. In addition to this publication, the Safety Awareness Program has several components:
- Presentations on crime prevention are offered by the Community Services Division, both routinely and in response to special requests from members of the University community. The Community Services Division coordinates crime prevention programs and presentations for students with the Office of Campus and Student Life.
- Orientation programs for incoming students and new employees include presentations on security procedures and crime prevention.
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The Public Safety Notification system is designed to change and impact behavior in order to prevent injury or harm and to prevent or reduce the risk of becoming a victim of a crime. The notifi cation system is three tiered:
- The Safety and Security website at safety-security.uchicago.edu includes comprehensive daily reports of crime incidents reported to the University Police. The website also includes aggregate crime data, identification of trends, and safety education materials. Most incidents of crime will be communicated via the website.
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Serious incidents of crime that pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff will be communicated via a timely email message to the campus and to those community members who are registered to receive security alerts. An alert may not be immediately sent if doing so would compromise efforts to contain the emergency or jeopardize public safety.
When issued, the security alerts briefly describe what happened, as well as when and where it occurred. They describe the offender only if the victim's description of the offender is sufficiently detailed. These alerts do not identify the victim by name, exact address, or affiliation, nor do they report domestic crimes or crimes where the victim knows the offender. Concerns about privacy should not discourage people from reporting crimes.
In addition to being posted to the Community Safety website at uchicago.edu/safety, the alerts are posted on seventeen designated bulletin boards around campus. They are removed from the security bulletin boards within several days but remain on the website.
- The cAlert system is the most extensive emergency alert system. University students, faculty, and staff members may register for cAlert by visiting calert.uchicago.edu. The cAlert system will be used to send phone calls, emails, and text messages to all registered individuals in the event of a significant emergency, one which requires individuals to take urgent and immediate action to protect their health and safety.