College campus crime drops in 2017

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced earlier this month that crime across college campuses in Tennessee was down in 2017 compared to 2016.

For colleges here in West Tennessee, they too have seen a drop in crime. For Union University, the reason fir the campus safety is an old saying.

“Here at Union we have a strong culture of see something, say something,” says Director for Safety, Security and Risk Mitigation Yancey Pettigrew.

According to Pettigrew, strong communication between students and staff to plays a big part in keeping the campus safe.

“We value having a safe campus just like they do. If there is something that needs to be reported then they report it. If there is something we need to let them know about, we certainly keep them in the loop.”

Over at Lane College, the school uses an app called Live Safe to help monitor campus safety.

“Probably about seven hundred students have downloaded the app and its made the college a whole lot safer” said director of college campus and security, Steaven Joy

The app allows students to send tips or alerts of any issues on campus anonymously, which Joy says plays a big role in why so many students use it.

“its just the mindset, the concept that certain students don’t want others to know that they say certain things, and I respect that, so like I said, reporting that anonymously that gives it more power.”

And ever since the Live Safe app was introduced to campus about two years ago, lane campus security has seen a huge increase in communication with the student body.

“Its actually increase how they officers and security here because now they don’t only see how they can report this information but its secret, nobody know that I haven’t sent it in."