The University of Western Ontario Campus Community Police Service reports break-ins at the university are at a four-year low.
The safe campus community initiatives throughout the university combined with security guards in buildings and campus police patrols are believed to be a contributing factor to this substantial decrease.
Western experienced 79 break-ins in 2005; however this number jumped to nearly 100 in 2006. In more recent years, the break-ins have decreased – reducing to 56 break-ins in 2007 and 30 break-ins in 2008.
There has been on-going education across campus focusing on the importance of individual contributions to a safe campus. Community members are encouraged to monitor suspicious persons and report to Campus Police.
The Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Basic Emergency Management training programs have also been well attended. Western has nearly 300 Building Emergency Team volunteers that are trained in evacuation procedures.
Other safety initiatives include more than 200 foot patrol volunteers conducting Safe Walk and Work Safe programs nightly. CPTED/ Safety audits have also resulted in the installation of additional deadbolts and electronic card access, which limits after-hours access to authorized users. The use of video monitoring equipment is also expanding across campus, along with new technology in the Campus Police Communications Centre.