As fall semester is well underway, we’d like to remind you of basic safety precautions. While the Public Safety team works hard 24/7 to help ensure the safest possible campus environment, our success as a community depends on all of us. Please take a moment to review  these safety tips.

1. Become familiar with on-campus resources so that you’re ready to use them if needed. Program these important and emergency numbers into your phone: Public Safety (570-577-3333); Student Health (570-577-1401); and the Switchboard (570-577-2000). Know where to find the Office of Public Safety, Student Health Center, and Counseling & Student Development Center. Finally, please note the location of emergency phones on campus.
2. Be aware of your surroundings and always walk in groups of two or more after dark. Avoid isolated areas. Watch out for each other, especially in situations where alcohol is involved.
3. Trust your instincts. If a situation or location feels unsafe or uncomfortable — leave. Have excuses prepared if you need to exit such a situation. Develop a signal with friends to help remove each other from these situations.
4. Do not leave drinks unattended, do not accept drinks from individuals you don’t know, and watch out for friends’ drinks if they leave them unattended.
5. It’s okay to tell someone no. You should never feel obligated, pressured or threatened to do anything you don’t want to do.
6. If an individual is unresponsive or extremely intoxicated, immediately contact the Department of Public Safety or call 911. Do not allow them to “sleep it off” — they may require medical attention. Remember that Bucknell offers medical amnesty, so please do not hesitate to get help because you are afraid of potential conduct charges. To review the complete medical amnesty policy, please refer to page 25 of the Student Handbook.
7. There has been an increase in bike thefts on campus, so please remember to lock your bike every time you leave it unattended. Similarly, please stay in the laundry area when you are washing and drying clothes.

Parking

We know parking continues to present challenges on our campus. We have towed one vehicle at this point in the semester for receiving over five citations. We continue to address parking concerns from the campus community. 

As a reminder, Public Safety issues “virtual” citations as well as paper ones. This means that  vehicles registered within our parking system can be electronically issued a citation. Once a virtual citation is issued, an email is generated and sent out to the person who holds the registration. All the same information that is contained in a paper citation is included in the email. As we look to engage in sustainable practices, we will increasingly move to the use of virtual citations.

Update on Recent Activities 

• Jamie Grobes, our new assistant director of Public Safety, has been working to meet with faculty, staff and students. Jamie has taken the feedback from these interactions and is working on actionable programming to improve the relationship between Public Safety and the community we serve.
• As a department, we continue to prioritize getting to know our campus community. We have received almost 400 responses rating our interactions with the community through the Guardian Score QR code. We continue to analyze each interaction to ensure equitable outcomes.
• We have enjoyed supporting our students at recent sporting events, plays and other informal events in which we can get to know each other.
• We have engaged in more canvassing and follow-up after criminal matters to ensure that thorough investigations are conducted.
• We continue to work through the recommendations of both Margolis Healy reports.
• Finally, we are engaged in more programming for our campus community, and we look forward to expanding the topics for which we offer training.
• We held a Public Safety Student Advisory Board meeting. We will continue to work on the recommendations from student leaders.
• The photos below are of some recent activities.