CMYK
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
Women composers in Faculty Artists Concerts > See Page 7
VOL.
100
Updated safety plan released I S S UE 1 0
reflector.uindy.edu
APRIL 6, 2022
By Hallie Gallinat FEATURE EDITOR
Former Indianapolis Public Safety Officer Troy Riggs was hired by the University of Indianapolis in November of 2021, according to UIndy’s website, to review the Public Safety Model of the university. As part of this safety plan, several new features and programs have been added to the university. According to UIndy’s website, Riggs conducted almost 60 interviews with various members of the campus community. The university found a few initiatives that were deemed to be critical, according to the website, and these were implemented immediately. One of the initiatives was Grady’s Safety Walk, a 24-hour phone line that allows students, faculty and staff to call a volunteer escort for traveling across campus. Vice President for Student and Campus Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli said this program was implemented as a result of the feedback heard from the community. “ … One of the sources of feedback we heard is that individuals wanted it to be easier to have direct contact with the police to get an escort if they wanted to be escorted somewhere across campus, without having to go through dispatch,” Vitangeli said. “So we [created] Grady's S afet y Walk program. And we hired a group of students who are working with the campus police.They'll eventually become police cadets to serve in those roles. So we are excited to have that kick off.” Vitangeli said that the traffic stop program was also a result of feedback university police heard from student groups. In addition, the self-defense classes were expanded as a result of the feedback received, Vitangeli said.
Graphic by Blanca Osorio-Ortega
University President Robert Manuel said some aspects of the safety plan were enhancements to existing programs, while others were implemented due to community feedback. “Part of them were added because the students, the faculty and the staff expressed interest in them being additions to the public safety efforts that we have at the university,” Manuel said. “And part of them were pieces of the public safety strategy that we identified as being necessary for … expansion of campus that we've been having…. And as we've welcomed people back post the relative isolation of COVID[-19], we recognize it as being necessary to a re-engagement of the campus on being back together on campus.” Fixtures that were deemed to be critical have also been added to campus, according to Manuel. New lighting has been put into areas around campus, including around residence halls and 57 new cameras have been installed
around campus, Manuel said. The university also reduced campus traffic by closing the street between the Sease Wing of Krannert Memorial Library and Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center and has approved the addition of a gate on a parking lot behind East Hall to reduce late-night access off of National
It's not a thing that we would create, put on a shelf and then we're done" Ave., according to UIndy’s website. This gate will be added in late April of this year, according to the website. According to Manuel, they are currently in the progress of redesigning the Public Safety Office. He said that in addition to this redesign, the search for a new Director of Public Safety will begin in the future.
“… The idea now is we'll work with [UIndy Police] Chief [David] Selby, with student affairs, with [Vice President and Chief Inclusion and Equity Officer] Amber Smith, out of the Equity [and] Inclusion Office, to put together a team of people to start thinking about how we put the notification out that we would be looking for that kind of a person and figure out how we run the search,” Manuel said. “That likely takes about a couple months to welcome people to campus, interview them, figure out what the fit is and then hire that person. So I'm imagining that would take place between now, graduation, now and a little bit past graduation.” The goals of the new Division of Public Safety include reviewing the communication capabilities of the University Police Department, reviewing the infrastructure of the university and creating educational training programs for the university, according to UIndy’s website. Manuel
said that once the new division has been put together, the new Director of Public Safety would be responsible for creating the next set of goals and Public Safety Plan for the university. Manuel said he hopes that the new Director of Public Safety will help engage the students, faculty and staff of UIndy. He said that the plan is organic and will continue to change as the environment changes. “It's not a thing that we would create, put on a shelf and then we're done. Much like the curriculum or the student life of the place or everything we do at the university is very organic. It's meant to kind of live and as the environment changes, we make sure that we're aware of how the environment reacts and how we make our changes to fit that,” Manuel said. “So the concept of public safety will change over time. And what we've done is create a new organizational reality for public safety, that we'll be able to adapt to the changes in our environment as we see them coming.”
Police bridge safety gaps UIndy App becomes Campus police keep UIndy safe amid increases in crime By Justus O’Neil
MANAGING EDITOR Crime is a universal and ongoing issue across the globe, but solving and preventing crimes f rom occurring functions similarly. While the University of Indianapolis is not an exception when it comes to criminals targeting locations to commit crimes, according to a public safety announcement issued by University President Robert Manuel via email, UIndy continues to focus leadership work on developing a robust and complete set of public safety measures for its community. The UIndy Police Department (PD) oversees campus security through daily interaction with students, faculty and staff, according to their website. UIndy PD also provides safety escort services, motorist assistance and courses and informational sessions to bolster campus safety. Although these courses are offered, UIndy ’s campus still experiences criminal activity. UIndy Police Chief David Selby said that UIndy PD has seen success when it comes to solving major crimes. “We’re a community and there’s 16 of us [UIndy police officers],” Selby said. “So we’re looking after all of you guys the best we can.” UIndy Police Lt. Brandon Pate
said within his 16 years on the UIndy police force, there have been less than 10 unsolved cases. He said UIndy PD believes that most crime deterring is done through seeing officers in their vehicles or in buildings. When responding to calls that dispatch UIndy police officers, the average response time is approximately five to seven minutes, according to Pate. After responding, Pate said officers solve basic questions regarding the call including who, what, where, when, why and how. “What I usually do, first thing, I ask for the person’s ID, just so I can read off their address, date of birth, all the information that they have,” Pate said. “And I’ll just start asking a question of, ‘Tell me from start to now exactly what happened. What’s your side of the story?’ And that allows us to listen and get a good idea of what the call is about.” The initial interview helps UIndy police officers determine where they take the call and what call type it becomes, according to Pate. Based on the interview, calls can change from thefts to burglaries, or batteries to arguments which can differentiate between an investigation and an incident that can be resolved immediately, Pate said. “There’s a process to it [investigating], and from someone on the outside looking in, if you did a deep dive, you would realize,‘Wow, every question actually has
an intention to it,’” Pate said. It is important for students to do their part in keeping campus safe by being aware of who is brought onto campus to avoid putting themselves and others at risk for criminal activity, according to Selby. Pate said UIndy PD’s main focus is to keep criminal activity out of campus. In an effort to increase campus safety, Selby said that UIndy PD tries to put a barrier around UIndy. “What we’re trying to do is develop that bubble or that barrier between our campus and whoever is doing the various acts out there,” Selby said. “They’re [UIndy police officers] out doing some of that, making traffic stops, they go in and walk in buildings [and] we try to talk to students.” Selby said that UIndy PD has continued to engage with students and student-run organizations, including the Black Student Association. UIndy PD conducted a traffic stop training seminar following conversations with students that sparked interest, according to Selby. Along with the traffic stop training, Pate said UIndy PD holds self-defense training classes and disaster simulation training with the nursing classes. They also work with the Depar tment of Criminal Justice to teach courses and are currently working with the Department of Engineering to develop various projects.
more user-friendly By Lily Fischer STAFF WRITER
The UIndy App recently changed f rom multiple channels to one channel in order to make the app more user-friendly, according to an email from Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli. Before the change was made, there was a lost and found channel, marketplace channel, news and politics channel and the campus feed, according to Senior Director of Information Technology Amber Weishaar. People were mostly posting in the campus feed, leaving other channels practically unused, Associate Dean of Students in the Office of Student Affairs Steven Freck said. “When we first launched the app, we had the general campus feed, and then we tried to introduce a couple of additional channels…,” Freck said. “When we looked at the usage of those other channels—not the campus feeds, so the marketplace and lost and found—there was very little traction in those channels.” Weishaar said confusion and lack of usage of the multiple channels is what led to the change on the app to one channel. This concept makes the app more user-friendly because it is easier to figure out where to post and not be a
part of a conversation you do not want to be included in, she said. “There was a little bit of confusion between ‘Where should I post my message,’ for those that noticed and paid attention that there were several channels. ‘Do I put my lost and found item in the main feed where I could see there's a lot more activity, or do I put it in the lost and found channel where it feels like I'm probably supposed to put it because it's labeled that?’” Weishaar said. “We've taken away that indecision and I think that is more user-friendly to streamline it all into one place because it's clear if you want to post something that's where you do it.” Before the app was changed, users were able to turn off notifications, Weishaar said, but now if users do not accept the invite to the channel, users will not receive several messages they do not want to see. “People who don't want to be part of the conversation don't have to be, and I think this invite-only concept makes that more obvious,” Weishaar said. “That’s some feedback we’d heard from students in the past because ‘I don't want to see that conversation, I don't want to be interrupted with it.’” Another change that will be coming to the app is more native content, Weishaar said. This means that people > See App on page 8