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SAFEwalk lacking staff, workers say

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by Ken Harris

Monday, April 14, 2008

University of Wisconsin SAFEwalk employees said Friday they are concerned the program is understaffed and cannot properly provide for the safety needs of the campus following the homicide of a UW student.

The SAFEwalk employees, UW students who patrol campus and provide escorts at night, met with Dean of Students Lori Berquam and told her UW’s response after the death of UW junior Brittany Zimmermann was not sufficient.

UWTS Transportation Administrator Gordon Graham said while the average number of walks provided by the service in the week before the homicide was seven per night, since the incident the number has been consistently above 14 walks per night.

UW senior and SAFEwalk escort Dana De Met said he and the other SAFEwalk escorts were concerned UW had put out a misleading statement after the incident, saying SAFEwalk patrols had been doubled. He said this misled people to think the size of the program had doubled.

According to De Met, the number of SAFEwalk escorts has not increased, only the amount of hours they are expected to be patrolling the campus when not escorting people.

“It’s a null point because we’re walking people constantly,” De Met said. “We were going to be out all night anyway, so there was no response, essentially.”

De Met said the student staff thinks SAFEwalk, which employs three teams of two walkers every night, needs to employ one more team to make sure there are always walkers available and to also allow for patrol time.

“We’re in direct contact with the UW Police Department,” De Met said. “Those patrols have helped UWPD apprehend suspects and reported suspicious activity.”

Graham said UW has not increased the SAFEwalk staff because the current use of three teams per night is sufficient to meet the demand for the service. He added, “If you look at the number of total walks given per night and how long each shift is, each team is providing just over one walk per hour.”

According to Graham, each walk “only takes 10 to 15 minutes,” leaving SAFEwalk escorts with plenty of time to fulfill the rest of their duties.

De Met said there will soon be more meetings with Berquam to further address the situation.

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Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 1:35am):

10-15min per walk? Yeah right! try more like 20-40min. graham obviously doesn't know what he's talking about

Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 5:00am):

What are the rest of their duties?

Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 8:41am):

Maybe the walks only take 10-15 minutes once the walkers pick up their escorts, but not total. And the walks are not conveniently spaced out throughout the night. The fact that they have had to deny 15 people a walk in one night proves that they cannot cover the demand.

Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 9:33am):

Mr. Graham hates Safety!

Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 10:27am):

To address Anonymous @ 5:00am: SAFEwalkers' duties entail round time (patrolling campus and looking out for suspicious activity), educating community members on how to keep themselves safe, giving presentations to classes, and helping out at SOAR during the summer. These duties, of course, come after the number one priority of providing walks for students/faculty/staff. Lately, due to the increased demand for walks and a lack of staff/teams, SAFEwalkers are literally walking non-stop from 8pm to 1am. The other duties don't even come into play, unfortunately.

Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 12:07pm):

last year there were 4 teams per night

Anonymous (April 14, 2008 @ 4:43pm):

Especially in this sensitive time, it seems wrong for Mr. Graham to tell the university that there are more forces keeping them safe, when it isn't true.

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