Kat Simonelli
News Editor
La Verne’s Campus Safety Department was recognized by the School Safety Advocacy program and was presented with an award for their exemplary safety programming in late July.
Some additions that Campus Safety implemented throughout the previous year and this past summer include added video surveillance, the WEBS Blue Light system, bike patrols, La Verne’s own “Leo Safe” app, personnel development and community programming.
“I know from myself that having those tools makes me feel like I can respond quicker and it does make the campus safer,” said campus safety officer Charles Stevens.
Officers also had to attend several different training programs before school was back in session.
“The campus safety officers and the entire office have undergone an intensive new training program to raise the professionalism of the staff and give them training and certification in a number of things like first aid and emergency treatment,” Associate Vice President of Facility and Technology Services Clive Houston-Brown said.
The programs include FEMA, CPR, first aid and chemical training.
Campus Safety has also employed a new bicycle safety area into their plans.
“Bike registrations are way up so we’ve been giving away lots of bike locks; we’ve established a bike library so we really try to make it easy in that regard and because we’re emphasizing more of a secured environment for that bike thefts are way down,” said Director of Campus Safety and Transportation Stanley Skipworth.
School safety programs are not the only ones taking notice of the added safety resources though.
“During student orientation over the course of the summer after talking with a number of families, they have really been very impressed by the fact that the blue lights are out there,” Skipworth said.
La Verne now also has its own safety app that provides students and community members with an opportunity to know what is going on around the community.
“The Leo Safe app is a big deal because it lets people notify us if they want to get in touch with us,” said Skipworth. “It gives them information like annual crime stats and other helpful resource information.”
The World Safety Organization will present La Verne’s Campus Safety department with its Education Award for working with campus community partners, peer institutions in the region and for their work on emergency preparedness at the end of this year.
Kat Simonelli can be reached at kathryn.simonelli@laverne.edu.
