By Karl Hays, Co-Managing Editor
Walking around the parking lots on campus at night can be lonely sometimes – intimidating, too. After finishing classes for the day, sophomore Judson Hashimoto puts on a reflective neon green vest and heads to the parking lot to begin his shift as a student safety escort. As Hashimoto sees it, his role is to make his presence known – serving as a deterrent to anyone looking to cause trouble.
“I don’t actually involve myself with anybody performing suspicious activity that I observe happening,” Hashimoto told The Bulletin. “But I do report it to the Campus Police, and then they will handle it after I give my description of the situation.”
Four nights a week, from 6 to 11 p.m., the Student Safety Patrol keeps watch over the lots to ensure students, staff, and faculty get to their vehicles without incident. With the majority of Toros commuting to campus every day, there’s a lot of ground to cover.
“We maintain the parking lot and make sure that nobody’s cars are messed with – they’re intact, nothing is getting stolen or broken into. We are also helping people,” Leon Weber, a parking safety officer. “Whether that is helping people with directions or making our presence known. Our main purpose is just to help, period.”
While Weber was explaining his responsibilities to The Bulletin, a driver coincidentally stopped to ask for directions to the nearby VELO Sports Center. Weber promptly directed the driver to East University Drive.
Junior health science student Kaylyn Gardea has been a safety escort for two years. Gardea told The Bulletin that she sometimes feels unsafe walking through the lots at night. Students must always be mindful, she said, adding that they shouldn’t wear headphones or earbuds so as to not be caught off guard.
“I think women should be more careful, prepare yourself and be aware,” Gardea said. “Try to stay in a group and always watch your surroundings.”
Gardea echoed Hashimoto’s description of a safety escort’s duties, but expressed sharp criticism for Campus Police. Gardea accused the department of not always communicating investigations to the campus community, and that it will “take forever for [Campus Police] to fix the situation or talk about it.”
“I haven’t had to handle any suspicious situations although I have been around when things do occur and I’ll hear reports on the walkie,” Gardea said. “I tell girls on campus to always be careful. Stuff happens on this campus that you may never know, and a lot of the time they don’t do anything about it.”
The Bulletin asked Campus Police Chief Carlos Velez to respond to Gardea’s comments. In a Dec. 10 email, Velez said it was difficult to comment without a specific case but emphasized that the University Police Department investigates all reported incidents.
“We’re mandated by the federal Department of Education to post our last three years of crime statistics via the Clery Report and to keep a daily crime log viewable to the public,” Velez wrote. “When there is an imminent or ongoing threat to the campus, we are also required to issue a timely warning to the campus community.”
According to Velez, Campus Police “have not observed an uptick in parking lot incidents this semester.”
