Kids grow up being taught by their parents to double-check the locks on our doors and never to walk alone at night. They’re told what time they need to be home by and punished for breaking these rules. But when they turn 18 and go to college, everything changes.
College is the first time for most people that they are completely in control of their lives. They may have an RA loosely regulating their behaviors, but for the most part, college students are on their own. They can set their own curfews and decide whether or not they’ll carry on all the safety routines they were taught growing up.
Many people assume that college is a bubble, protected from the harsh realities of the outside world. But this is not necessarily the case. An ideal world would be one that’s completely exempt from crime, but that’s unfortunately not the world we live in.
Because of this new sense of freedom and perceived image of invincibility, college students are often a target for crime. Robbery, theft, assault, you name it, it’s probably occurred at a college campus somewhere in the country recently.
An in-depth study by CheckVideo evaluated the most and least safe college campuses across America based on crime statistics. What they found confirmed a lot of what we already knew – crime is out there and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.
So what does this mean for college students and their families? It’s time to get smarter about how we treat personal safety. Much of the crime on campus may be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take precautionary measures to limit the damage.
Thanks to advancements in technology, there are dozens of gadgets that can make our lives a little bit easier when it comes to safety.
For example, students can install apps that will take their safety to the next level. These apps have different features that can be used to provide safety alerts or contact friends, families, or officials in emergency situations. The best part about apps is they’re typically free or super cheap, unlike many high-tech gadgets.
On top of these modern inventions, there are some old-fashioned techniques students can use to protect themselves. From simply knowing their risks to being prepared to physically defend themselves if needed, the age-old tactics to increase safety are still effective in our digital world. These technological tools should simply be used to in addition to the traditional safety tactics.
Ultimately, it’s up to all of us. The students to protect themselves, their parents to educate their children on the risks, the school professionals to implement proper emergency procedures, the government officials to enact laws to increase safety, the list goes on. By taking the power into our own hands, we can reduce the prevalence of crime on college campuses.
