Baylor University has a security escort program to help enhance student, faculty and staff safety on campus.
The security escort program will pick up any student, faculty or staff who do not want to or do not feel safe traversing the campus at night. The escort will take the student, faculty or staff to their desired location on campus or within the Baylor police department’s patrol response area. The patrol response area extends to 18th Street and La Salle Ave. This includes the apartment complexes on La Salle such as Oso Verde, The Domain, The Loft and several others.
“There are several programs that we have implemented over the years to help enhance the safety on campus and this is just one of several programs,” said Baylor Police Chief Brad Wigtil.
Wigtil said a scenario in which to use the escort would be that a student is at the library studying or working on a paper and needs to get back to their car across campus or to their home just off campus. Wigtil said if the student ‘has a sense of personal safety’ and doesn’t want to walk in the dark they can call the Baylor Department of Public Safety (DPS) and they will send a police officer to escort the student.
“Based on availability, a Baylor police officer will provide an escort whose destination begins on campus and does not extend beyond our patrol response area,” says the Baylor DPS’s website.
Austin freshman Brittany Wetmore has used the security escort from Baylor DPS many times. Wetmore used the escort because she didn’t want to walk across campus at night by herself. She said the escort only took about five minutes to get there and that she felt completely safe.
“I would advise students to use the escort service because it’s a safe way to travel across campus when it’s dark outside,” Wetmore said. “It’s a way to make all the students feel safe on campus.”
To request an escort call the Baylor DPS at 254-710-2222
Another option for a secure escort is for students to contact the Safety and Security Education Officer (SSEO) on call. SSEOs are Baylor staff that are part of Campus Living and Learning. SSEOs work seven days a week from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and monitor the safety and security of the residence halls. The number to contact the SSEO on call is 254-265-0690. The SSEOs are limited to only escorting people from places on campus to other places on campus.
