School Safety: Are We Being Naïve?

The University of Michigan has recently been dealing with an alarming amount of crime and safety issues. Students and parents have been alerted and the students are urged to be mindful of their surroundings and take precautions before walking home late or in poorly lit areas. These kinds of alerts are common on college campuses, as criminals such as thieves and sex offenders are aware of the high volume of young and often vulnerable young adults in one location and take advantage of this. It is essential that everyone on campus is conscious of this, and students feel like their safety is the number one priority to authorities and the Ann Arbor police.

Just the other week, a girl in my hall told me and my friend about a cab driver who offered her a free ride home late at night and proceeded to put his hand on her leg and didn’t want her to leave the car. While she was able to get out safely, we convinced her to call the police and report the story. When she did, the officer took her information and then preceded to say, “What would you like us to do about it?”

These are the kinds of questions and ideas that are hindering the safety on our campus if students do not feel like they have anyone to turn to or feel like their experience was not worthy of attention.  It is truly upsetting to see students’ well being at risk because of laziness and naivety. Last month, an article was posted on usatoday.com, which revealed that registered sex offenders are finding jobs at elementary, middle and high schools even though there is a law that is supposed to forbid this from happening.

“An Education Department study estimates that millions of kids in kindergarten through 12th grade are victims of sexual misconduct by a school employee at some point. The GAO report also notes most sexual abuse of children goes unreported. In one study it cites, 232 child molesters
admitted to molesting a total of 17,000 victims, often without ever being caught.”

The article goes on to explain that sometimes these offenders go under the radar simply by not filling out the question on criminal history. There is no reason for this to ever happen besides carelessness. Because administrators do not think it is likely to happen, it becomes that much easier for these offenders to go undetected. This issue is relevant and serious for students at any age and this cannot be pushed aside or ignored. Students need to feel safe at school, just as parents need to know it is safe to send their kids to school.

(Photo by ellenm1 under a Creative Commons license)