How Safe is The College at Brockport?

Michael Robinson
Nov 6 · 6 min read

Safety on campus is a major concern of any college. The College at Brockport takes many precautions to ensure that their students are safe.

Abby Grimaudo, a nursing major at Brockport chose the college because she felt safe.

“When I was choosing my school, I really based it off of how I felt when I was on campus. It’s my first time being away from home and I wanted to feel the same level of comfort I was used to,” said Grimaudo.

But what makes this campus feel safe?

The College at Brockport has several resources available to all students and staff with information about campus safety. The college website contains several Safety Resources, including information about the Blue Light Phones, safety and crime prevention tips, as well as additional information about the counseling centers.

To help make sure the students are safe, University police(UP), work around the clock both on and around the campus. Their mission is to provide a safe and secure campus environment for all students, staff, faculty members, and visitors. There are a total of sixteen officers and forty-seven Blue Light Phones, as well as several security cameras located around campus.

University Police

Lathrop Hall ( Website)

Brockport’s University Police Department received accreditation from the Division of Justice Services in Albany in December 2018. The department was 14th out of 29 SUNY UP Departments to receive accreditation. The colleges police force consists of 16 officers who work 24/7 to keep the campus safe.

According to The Stylus, University Police is looking into getting a K-9 Unit trained to locate firearms and explosives. This would enable to campus to ensure the safety of students during big events, like concerts and sporting events. The K-9 would also be able to investigate any suspicious packages received by the mailroom. Currently, if a K-9 is needed, the department will call the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.

Incident Reports

The college provides a complete list of weekly incident reports that the University Police respond to. This crime log consists of an average of 194 incidents per week. The reports range from suspicious cars to drug complaints but a majority of the incidents are for traffic stops, unlocking or checking buildings and fire alarms.

Every university is required to disclose their campus safety policies and crime statistics under the Clery Act. When comparing the Clery Act criminal offenses of The College at Brockport and The State University of New York Oswego, which has a similar student body size, Brockport is considerable safer. In 2018, SUNY Oswego had 14 reported rapes while Brockport had 4. Brockport had 14 incidences of dating violence and/or stalking where Oswego had 30. They both had a similar number of drug law disciplines and arrests, although Brockport had 144 more liquor law disciplines.

Safety Resources

Liberal Arts Building

Scattered around the campus in high traffic areas, there are blue-light phones. Like the name implies, the phones are topped with a glowing blue light to be easily seen at night. These phones immediately connect you to the University Police. They can be used to report crimes, emergencies or to call for an escort if you feel unsafe.

Blue Light Map

An escort service, known as safe ride, is provided by members of the campus’s Student Patrol between 8p.m.- 2a.m. during the academic year. Safe Ride will quickly escort students to their car or residence hall from any location on campus. Beyond those hours, a student can all University Police and an officer will escort them safely.

One student, Emily Nojeim, a sophomore public health major says “I use Safe Ride after my night class to bring me from Cooper to my car by Edwards,” said Nojeim, “It’s not that I feel unsafe walking, it’s just dark and I’m a female walking alone across an empty campus. If a ride is offered to get me where I need to go safely, why wouldn’t I take advantage of it?”

In addition to the Blue Light Phones, the college is looking to update their security cameras as well.

Security Cameras

Seymour College Union

Brockport has been implementing new cameras around campus since the start of 2016. Frederick Rion, the Emergency Manager at the College at Brockport, has been advocating for new and improved cameras, as well as integrating each camera onto the same servers.

Currently, Brockport has roughly 60–70 security cameras around campus. These cameras are connected to a server in groups of five to ten, depending on their location. There is no standard type of camera on campus, and the systems do not integrate with one another.

By 2020, Rion is hoping to have around 300 cameras spread throughout campus. The emphasis on the new cameras is to have them all on one server, which can be accessed at the University Police Station. Some of the features of the new cameras include 180 degree view as well as storing up to 30 days worth of video.

Steve Bailey, a criminal justice alumni from Brockport, worked for University Police and Safe Ride last semester, I think the new cameras are a good idea. The cameras will hopefully provide a safer environment to students on campus. We had to pick up a lot of students from darker lit areas on campus. If something happened while they were waiting, there isn’t much UP could do. But with cameras, they can see exactly what happened.” said Bailey.

The estimated cost of the cameras is $19,000, not including the $3,800 licensing fee for each camera. The university estimated that an additional $8,000 will be spent on materials used for the instillation of the cameras. The estimated total cost of the project is $42,000.

Emergency Preparedness

The College at Brockport also has several services available in case of an emergency. Each member of the Brockport community has the ability to sign up for RAVE. RAVE is a service that sends out warnings and emergency information via the web, your cell phone, email and other technologies. This free service allows students and faculty members to be alerted quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency on or around campus.

The college has a Classroom Emergency Preparedness Plan which can be located on their website as well as inside of some of the classrooms. This gives detailed procedures for several different types of emergencies, both in and out of the classroom. Scenarios include a power outage, natural gas odor, severe weather, a bomb threat, or a civil disturbance.

Frederick Rion went to a four weeks national executive academy for emergency preparedness that consisted of only 40 people from around the world, “they give us all the best, latest and greatest resources and I try to bring all those things back to our small college here in western New York” said Rion.

“Were definitely heading in the right direction, enhancing what we had, making it stronger, and bringing in some new technology, ideas and best practices from around the country around emergency preparedness.” said Rion.

With the current safety resources and upcoming additions, The College at Brockport continues to prioritize the safety of its students.


Michael Robinson and Alex Hutton

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