Although most students feel safe on their campuses, stats emphasize that all sorts of crimes do occur on campus. The crime rates on college campuses keep declining thanks to evolving safety and security protocols. Still, students report thousands of criminal incidents at colleges and universities.
Since the problem is real, it is crucial that young people know how to protect themselves. In this article, an expert essay helper from a USA university will tell you about eight simple tips that will keep you safe on campus. Let’s dive in!
Covered Topics
1. Study Your Campus Thoroughly
If you have just arrived at college, the first thing you should do is to study your campus from A to Z. Doing so will help you know your way around the campus better. It can also protect you from many unpleasant situations, especially when you will have to walk back home in the evening or at night.
To do this, you should download a campus map and study different pathways during the day when the campus is full of other students and faculty. Also, be sure to check where different emergency systems are located on your campus. Typically, all schools have emergency phones that students can use to reach the public safety office.
2. Think About Cybersecurity
One of the important things students have to keep in mind while being in college is their safety online. The issue is that young people tend to use lots of technology in their daily lives. For example, they use various tools to study, communicate with each other, employ paper writing services to do my math homework, and do other things, which usually require being connected to the Internet. And often, this means using different public networks all the time, which could also mean a huge threat to your cybersecurity.
To protect your privacy and data, it is recommended to use VPNs. Such software will hide your IP and online activity to keep you safe. And to protect yourself from shadowing, also be sure to keep your social media settings private and disable location finders.
3. Get Yourself a Pepper Spray, Alarm, or Whistle
Getting back to your physical safety on campus, we have another tip for you: invest in a pepper spray, alarm, or whistle. These are common personal defense options that can come in handy in dangerous situations.
A pepper spray, alarm, or whistle are all easy to carry around with you. Such things also don’t cost too much, so you should be able to afford them even on a student budget. Most importantly, they can be very effective. Such self-defense items can help you stop an attack or, at least, let people nearby know that you are in trouble.
4. Take a Few Classes on Self-Defense
Since students often tend to become victims of attackers, many schools offer self-defense classes to their students for free or for credit. Not many know this, but that’s true. If you are concerned about personal safety, the next tip is to check if your school has such classes and attend a few. Or you can find self-defense classes outside your school.
Such classes will help you learn some of the most effective self-defense tactics. Even if you might never need to use them (hopefully), knowing them should give you more confidence and protect you in the case of an attack. So, don’t neglect this tip.
5. Keep Emergency Contacts in Your Smartphone
Calling 911 might be the first contact you will consider calling when an emergency happens. However, it might not always be too effective. After all, it can take a while for the police to arrive. But you can always call campus security and get prompt help in the case of an emergency.
So, here is a tip – get the number of your college’s security office and keep it on your phone. This way, if any emergency occurs, you won’t have to waste time looking for their phone number.
6. Don’t Walk Alone at Night
Another simple trick that can help you avoid scary or dangerous situations is never walking alone at night. Unfortunately, no matter how obvious it sounds, many students tend to neglect this rule. Most often, young people believe that nothing can happen to them while they are on campus. Still, it is one of those basic rules you shouldn’t neglect.
When walking after dark, be sure to find yourself company. It is much safer to walk in groups of two or more.
7. Consider Using Campus Escort Services
In the previous tip, we recommended students avoid walking alone after dark. Of course, this is not always possible, especially if you are a fan of parties. But there is another safety tip for such occasions – take advantage of your school’s campus escort services.
Not many students know this, but many universities offer special services to escort their students at night time.
8. Don’t Drink Too Much
Finally, one more thing you can do for your own safety is to drink responsibly. Drinking too much can lead you to bad decisions and dangerous situations. So, even if you are partying, be sure not to overdo it.
To Sum Up
So, these are our campus safety tips. Use them in your everyday life to stay safe!
