June 26, 2017

New report says Purdue ranks among safest college campuses

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus is the 14th safest in the country, and the safest campus in Indiana, according to a new study by the National Council for Home Safety and Security.

“We are pleased to see this special recognition of the safety of our campus, and we thank our city, county, and state partners in public safety for the support they provide to our campus community members across Tippecanoe County,” said Carol Shelby, senior director of environmental health and public safety. 

In gathering results the website looked at: student population, criminal acts like murder, robbery and assault, violence against women, number of arrests for things like drugs, alcohol and illegal weapons, and local crimes in the area.

More than 2,000 four-year colleges and universities were assessed in the study. Colleges and towns that did not list data on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting page were excluded.  Full statistics and methodology for the rankings can be found here.

“The Purdue University Police Department is proud to serve the thousands of students, staff, faculty and visitors that come to our campus each day,” said John Cox, Purdue University chief of police. “Providing a safe and secure campus to live on, learn at and explore is a top priority. Being a global institution, the highly trained men and women of the PUPD are well rounded police officers that work hard each day to stay informed and support our greater Purdue community locally and across the state.”

The Purdue Police Department  operates bike patrols, a K-9 program, student security patrols  including the Safe Walk program, bicycle and laptop registration and group safety and security presentations on campus.

A copy of the department’s 2016 annual security report is available here.

Along with Police, Fire, Emergency Preparedness and Radiological and Environmental Management departments, Purdue Environmental Health and Public Safety makes sure students, staff and visitors are safe while on campus and informed in case of a problem. Some of the enhancements to public safety are:

  • More than 300 “blue light” phones with direct access to 911.
  • Multi-layered emergency notification, including:
    • Text messaging to faculty, staff and students.
    • Twitter account (@purdueemergency) available to anyone.
    • Nearly 200 digital signs around campus that display the same Purdue Alert message in the event of an emergency.
    • Over 20,000 campus computers can receive desktop pop-up alerts.
    • Outdoor all hazard warning sirens.
  • All-hazard awareness training.

The National Council for Home Safety and Security is a national trade association whose goal is to further industry education and public knowledge about home safety and security.

Writer: Tim Doty, 765-496-2571, doty2@purdue.edu

Sources: Carol Shelby, 765-494-7504, cshelby@purdue.edu

John Cox, jkcox@purdue.edu

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