Who do you call in an emergency? ETSU’s Department of Public Safety exist as a quick way to seek out help for a number of situations that may occur on campus. In the event that a student calls public safety with an emergency best suited for the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD), the call is immediately transferred over and vice versa.
When asked about campus crime rates, both ETSU Public Safety and JCPD expressed that ETSU produces very low rates.
When to call ETSU Public Safety
The officers are known to help change tires, start cars, walk students back to their dorms when they feel unsafe, open doors when students lock their keys in their car, direct traffic, make patrols, take reports, provide mental health checks, respond to vehicular accidents and more. Public Safety officers work in shifts to cover campus in the day and at night.
“My officers here are here because they want to help the students,” said ETSU Public Safety Lieutenant of Operations, Damon Wilson. “I would want the students here to know that the law enforcement officers that we employ here we hold to a very high standard. We want to build relationships with the students.”
When asked about serious crime, Wilson expressed that for 20,000 students to be on campus, we are in good shape. He explained that the largest thefts they handle are bikes, and they encourage you to register your bike with the campus public safety office; so that, in the event it is stolen, they have a better chance of finding it. Wilson also mentioned that vandalism on campus is very minor.
When asked about sexual assault cases, Wilson explained that there are about four to five a semester reported, most of which occur at the start of the fall semester.
ETSU Public Safety is actively working on a campaign in collaboration with Mrs. Noland and Branch House in order to provide students with education necessary to lower those numbers. There is also set to be a new class available in a college introduction course to further educate on the topic.
Starting in April, there will be resources available across campus in support of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
“Whatever the case may be, we just want to make the experience here safe because college should be fun and we recognize that,” said Wilson. “We want the experience here to also, you know, feel like you’re part of a community.”
When to call the Johnson City Police Department
Billy Church, interim chief of police for JCPD, noted that the types of crime they see mostly at ETSU come from parties, DUIs, disturbances, fights or alcohol-related issues. JCPD works in tandem with campus public safety to provide awareness of anything worth looking out for in the surrounding areas.
Church also provided some insight on what to do to remain safe on campus. Always watch your surroundings; gravitate towards well-lit areas at night, the more people around you the better; always check around your car; and lock your doors. In the event that something happens to you, draw attention to yourself by yelling and fighting. ETSU has red emergency poles spread out across campus that will alert public safety when pressed.
“It is a safe campus,” said Church. “But a lot of that depends on [the students’] actions themselves. Know that if you call, we will come. We put ourselves in harms way for [the students’] safety and that’s just the way it’s always been.”
In an on campus emergency, call (423) 439-1000 for ETSU Public Safety, and in an off-campus emergency, call 911 for JCPD.
