Students increase campus security - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Students increase campus security

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Valdosta - Kevin Lee is the new watchdog at Valdosta State University. "You just have to have a good eye and be on top of things," said Lee.

He's one of nine students trained to be a campus security patrol. "Going through, locking and security buildings that are open late at night, walking around patrolling campus and making sure everything's safe and calm," said Lee.

The university police department is short about three officers. These student security patrols will help lighten the officers' workloads, and give them more time to focus on more serious tasks. "Taking care of some of the building security stuff is really going to free us up to do more pro-active policing and deal with the property crimes and things like that we've had a problem with," said Russell Severns, VSU Police Officer.

The security patrols will work the campus from 6:00 every night until 2:00 in the morning. They'll be an extra set of eyes and ears for the sworn officers. "Their job is going to be pro-active in looking and reactive in reporting," said Severns. "They're going to see something, then call a sworn officer to come and take care of the problem."

But the security patrols are doing more than just looking for crime. "We've had a lot of people come up and just ask us basic things like where buildings are," said Michael Broam, Security Patrol Supervisor.

And they're also there if you just need someone to walk you to your destination. "If a student or teacher needs escorting to their car, classroom, or office, we'll go with them," said Lee.

The college's crime rate has stayed pretty steady over the past five years. And with the added presence of these new security patrols, it will hopefully stay that way.

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