(The photo above is from this year’s Campus Safety Walk, a joint initiative of Longwood students, LUPD and the Office of Residential and Commuter Life. The walk’s goal is to identify areas on campus where safety can be improved, especially after dark.)
Nothing is more important to Longwood’s administrators, faculty and staff than the safety of your student.
The resources we devote to personnel, programming, planning and communication; the high standards we set for our campus police department; and the attention we pay to the safety concerns of students are just a few indicators of how seriously the university takes this responsibility.
“In the last 10 years, we have nearly doubled the security budget on campus, including growing our law enforcement staff to more than double the national average for a population our size,” said Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs, who oversees the Longwood Police Department. “That kind of commitment from the top down … is a real testament to the values and forward-thinking practices put in place over that time.”
The Longwood Police Department is recognized as one of the best college police department’s in the nation. Over the last 11 years, Longwood has consistently outperformed Virginia’s other colleges and universities in the higher education category of Security magazine’s annual rankings. LUPD’s latest top-20 ranking, which was announced in late 2019, is the department’s eighth in the last 10 years.
In addition, LUPD is accredited by the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission, a distinction held by less than a third of the law enforcement agencies in the state.
Below are a few of the university’s efforts, initiatives and services. You’ll see that some of the safety measures available require you and/or your student to sign up or take another action. Please encourage your student to take full advantage of every service Longwood offers to help them stay safe.
Alerts.Longwood.edu
Anyone with an interest in campus safety can sign up for email and text alerts at this website, which provides up-to-date information about any situation that could affect the safety of Longwood students. Students’ automatically receive emails through this alert system, but they must go to the site and sign up to receive text messages.
In addition, alerts.longwood.edu provides information about Longwood’s inclement weather policy, a list of emergency phone numbers and links to additional safety resources.
#SafeAtLongwood
Encourage your student to use the hashtag #SafeAtLongwood on their public social media accounts to let you and others know they’re safe in the event of a major emergency. During a major crisis, cell service might be down.
Emergency Phones and Security Cameras
More than 300 security cameras keep an eye on the campus and university-managed housing complexes. In addition, more than 100 emergency area-of-rescue photos placed inside buildings and 60 emergency blue-light phones placed at strategic outdoor locations provide direct communication with the Longwood Police Department.
Safety Programming
The Longwood Police Department provides a range of programming designed to help keep your student safe. Here are just a few examples:
—Personal Safety Seminars
These seminars are designed to improve students’ safety habits. Topics include alcohol awareness, residence hall security, personal safety habits, reporting illegal or suspicious activity, crime on campus and police services. This program allows the student the opportunity to address safety concerns and to receive an appropriate response.
—R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense)
The Rape Aggression Defense system is dedicated to teaching women defensive concepts and techniques against various types of assault by utilizing easy, effective and proven self-defense/martial arts tactics.
—Code Red
This program is designed to make participants aware of their surroundings with an all-hazards approach. Participants also learn the appropriate actions to take to protect themselves and others in an active threat situation. Severe weather safety measures are also covered.
—Sabrina Brown