Pierce students feel safe on campus

Opinion -Pro-

Caleb Johnson cjohnson.roundupnews@gmail.com

Some may question their safety on campus after reading a news report or hearing about campus crime, but Pierce College is without a doubt a safe campus because of the college’s active community.

Students and teachers often react quickly to dangers on campus, showing time and time again the cohesive bond the community has in and around the campus.

Most recently, a reported parolee made his way into a classroom. The teacher quickly made an excuse to leave and ran to sheriffs who then arrested the man.

There’s a sheriff’s office on campus, allowing officers to react quickly to come to the aid of staff and students. Sheriffs will even escort students, staff and visitors to their destinations if they feel unsafe, according to their website.

Woodland Hills is a safe place, touting a lower crime rate than many other towns with colleges, according to the Los Angeles Time’s “Mapping L.A.” project.

Valley Glen, where Los Angeles Valley College is located, had 15 more violent crimes in the last six months compared to Woodland Hills. Concorde Career College and Kaplan College in North Hollywood has 65 more violent crimes in the past 6 months, as well as 173 more property crimes compared to Woodland Hills, also according to the LA Times.

Pierce hosts various events promoting safety and self-defense, to promote awareness and help those who have been sexually or physically abused. With the staff, students, sheriffs and community Pierce College has, it is without a doubt one of the safest campuses in the San Fernando Valley and beyond.

Opinion

Chiara Perbil cperbil.roundupnews@gmail.com

Recent campus crime illustrates Pierce College is not one of the safest community colleges, leaving some students concerned about walking the campus.

As a young lady, thoughts about how quiet it is and how dark the Mall gets, despite streetlights, creep in while sitting silently and alone on a bench listening to the crickets chirp at the corner of Medallion Square and the Mall.

There are 21 blue emergency telephones located throughout the campus, yet very few actually work. When they do, pressing a button dials the sheriff’s office directly.

But, protection may not get to you in time from the Sheriff’s

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Station to Lot 8 or the farm and blue phones are not located in parking lots 5 or 7, Rocky Young Park or the soccer field.

Ironically, an opinion poll by the Roundup found that most Pierce College students feel safe.

In 2011 four forcible sex offenses, four robberies, a burglary and a motor vehicle theft were recorded on the school campus, according to the Los Angeles Pierce College Annual Security Report for 2012. In March and again in September 2013, another non-student attempted to take over a classroom in the Village, also according to sheriff’s officials.

Pierce College has great potential of becoming a very safe school but school officials must first reconsider the safety of the students by installing blue phones that work, more and brighter streetlights and assuring that campus sheriffs are patrolling parking lots at night.

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