SECURITY IN THE RESIDENCE HALLS

The University and Resident Life take reasonable steps that contribute toward maintaining a safer and more secure environment. Staff, equipment, and information resources are provided to encourage behaviors that prevent dangerous situations and to assist if an emergency should occur. However, even with these reasonable and good faith efforts, it is impossible to predict individual actions or guarantee absolute control that will assure that no unwanted acts or situations ever occur. Each individual residing in campus residence halls has primary responsibility for their own safety and security.

Security Services And Policies

• Full-service Police department with approximately 80 uniformed officers

• Walking escorts by uniformed police officers or student police aides

• Residence Hall exterior doors are locked 24 hours a day

• Electronic card access system in all residence halls except the garden-style Leonardtown apartments

• Residents typically use their keys/access cards three times: to open the entrance door, to call the elevator, and to open their room door

• Shuttle-UM buses stop outside each residence hall community every 15–30 minutes 5:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. every night

• N.I.T.E. Ride escorts by Shuttle-UM vans 5:30 p.m.–7:30 a.m. every night

• Outdoor Emergency phones

• Dusk to dawn patrols by police officers in marked and unmarked cars, motorcycles, and bicycles

• Shuttle-UM bus drive-throughs of main roads and parking lots

• Surveillance cameras

• Crime prevention programs

• Crime alerts and statistics available at umpd.umd.edu

Property Insurance

Please review your family’s homeowner’s or apartment dweller’s policy or consider purchasing renter’s insurance to protect your personal belongings while you’re on campus. The University cannot reimburse you for any theft, loss, or damages to your belongings in the event of a flood, water leak, fire, etc.

FOR THEIR PART, RESIDENT STUDENTS WILL BE EXPECTED TO:

• Keep their room doors locked

• Never walk alone after dark; either walk with friends or utilize escort/transit services

• Not allow strangers into their building

• Report suspicious persons or activity to Police

• Stay away from relatively isolated areas of the campus

• Not place themselves in vulnerable or potentially dangerous situations

• All visitors should call their host upon arrival and wait outside the building for their host to accompany them into the residence hall. Guests and visitors are the responsibility of each resident.

SAFETY AND SECURITY RESOURCES AT THE UNIVERSITY INCLUDE:

Medical Emergency (301) 405-3333 or 911

Police Emergency* (301) 405-3333 or 911

Fire (301) 405-3333 or 911

Police Non-Emergency (301) 405-3555

Crime Reporting (301) 405-3555

Walking Escorts (301) 405-3555

Health Center (301) 314-8180

Behavioral Health Services (301) 314-8106

Sexual Assault Hotline (301) 314-2222

Key, Lock & Facility Problems (301) 314-9675

Evening Security Buses (301) 314-NITE

Shuttle-UM Transit (301) 314-2255

*Dial 301-405-3333 to reach University of Maryland Police directly

Fire Safety Reminders And Emergency Preparedness

What you should do upon check-in:

• Read emergency/evacuation procedure posted in your room

• Know locations of exit stairwells and doors

• Plan more than one exit route

If you hear your building’s fire alarm:

• Immediately exit the building

• Always assume an emergency, never assume a false alarm

• Use stairs, not elevators

• Do not open door if knob is warm to the touch; call UMPD immediately at 301-405-3333 or dial 911

• Crawl on floor (where air is fresher) if you encounter smoke

Each residence hall room has a fire suppression sprinkler. DO NOT hang anything from or tamper with the sprinklers.

Make an emergency preparedness plan on Policies page.

Umd Alert Systems

Our campus has multiple ways of providing instant notifications to students, faculty, and staff of imminent dangerous conditions.

Students who sign up for the service at alert.umd.edu will receive text message alerts to their mobile devices in an emergency.

Also in an emergency, sirens around campus will sound continuously for at least three minutes. The siren alert is tested at noon on the first Wednesday of each month.

If you ever hear the sirens: Stay inside and seek information.

• If

24-HOUR SERVICES

• Police, fire, and ambulance services

• Quiet room in libraries

• Study rooms in residence halls

• Security escorts by uniformed police officers and student police aides

• Residence hall desk staff for information, room lockouts, getting immediate help with a problem, mail/package pick-up

• “Hotline” for residence hall repairs and service calls

• Professional staff (housing, counseling, mental health) for response to emergencies

• Maintenance response to plumbing, heating, or power emergencies

• Police surveillance of outdoor areas, parking garages via security cameras

• Text messaging alerts, warning sirens

Rights And Responsibilities

The Office of Rights and Responsibilities is a unit within the Department of Resident Life and administers rules and adjudicative processes that serve three primary goals:

(1) maintain the safety and necessary order for an academic residence community,

(2) determine accountability for prohibited behavior and,

(3) foster among students an understanding of their accountability as community members.

The office promotes the Department of Resident Life’s Community Living Principles by balancing the needs of individual students with the needs of the community, and strives to educate students about each individual’s obligation to help assure a safe, secure, and nurturing academic environment.

For more information visit Student Rights & Responsibilities page.

Immunization Policy

In order to keep our community healthy and free from vaccine preventable diseases, we require that all new students submit evidence of a number of immunizations. Required vaccines include:

• Two measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine doses, or blood titer evidence of immunity

• One meningitis ACWY vaccine dose within 3 years of arrival at UMD for undergraduate students

• One tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine dose within the last 10 years

• Completion of a tuberculosis risk screening questionnaire and additional testing depending on your responses to the screening questions.

Our Immunization Record Form must be completed and uploaded prior to your arrival to campus. New students may submit your information online beginning June 1.

For more information call University Health Center at (301) 314-8114 or visit health.umd.edu.