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.
