This fall, the University has implemented new safety measures, the University Patrol and SHU Safe Ride van, in an effort to create a safer perimeter around campus.
According to Patrick Linfante, assistant vice president of Public Safety and Security, new initiatives, which began on Aug. 29, serve designated areas around campus.
University Patrol will operate around campus beginning at Wilden Place and wraps around the Ivy Hill Apartments and down the Irvington Avenue corridor before cutting across Prospect Street to South Orange Avenue.
The patrol zone also includes Grove Park, the Turrell Manor area and Centre Street down to the seminary.
The SHU Safe Ride will operate in an "undefined" area to stops not served by the SHUFly because, according to Linfante, "we don't know where our students live."
"We have a marked security vehicle [University Patrol], clearly marked Seton Hall Public Safety, and a uniformed University employee patrolling the zone," Linfante said. "We worked it out with SOPD to be the official eyes and ears of the police department in this area."
SHU Safe Ride, which according to Linfante is a "truly on-demand transport service," is an upgrade to the previously used CASE Van, which transported students off campus in a specific radius to stops not served by the SHUFly. Safe Ride, however, provides two-way travel in an area which is currently undefined
The University also invested in a larger van, which now holds 12 passengers, Linfante said.
"We believe we've mapped out an area where the overwhelming majority of students who live off-campus reside," Linfante said.
According to Linfante, the University Patrol officer will "give the students a sign of safety."
"It is one University employee in the vehicle with a radio and a cell phone, and if they see anything they are instructed to call the police if they approach him for assistance, he will provide that assistance," Linfante said.
Linfante noted that, if a University Patrol officer witnesses a crime being committed, they are instructed to not involve themselves and to call the police because patrol officers are not armed.
According to Linfante, SHU Safe Ride served 18 riders in 12 trips in its first two nights on Aug. 29 and Aug. 30.
The services are currently available between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m. daily because, as Linfante noted, "that's where we've had the greatest amounts of incidents occur."
Samantha Desmond can be reached at samantha.desmond@student.shu.edu
