Rice: Unconventional Wisdom
Placeholder Image

SAFETY TIPS


YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

The cooperation and involvement of students, staff and faculty in campus security is absolutely necessary. All members of the community must assume a part of the responsibility for their own personal safety and the security of their personal belongings. Student, faculty and staff responsibility includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Taking reasonable precautions to ensure their own personal safety.
  • Locking offices and room doors.
  • Locking windows.
  • Marking valuable items and recording serial numbers.
  • Locking bicycles.
  • Locking vehicles.
  • Protecting the security of buildings and offices by not letting strangers in or propping doors open.
  • Reporting suspicious persons or activities to the police.
  • Reporting crimes promptly to the police.
  • Participating in campus and college crime prevention programs.
  • Reporting all security-related maintenance problems.
  • Staying aware of campus crime trends (reading bulletins and statistics).

 

SAFETY TIPS


General safety

  • Be aware of your surroundings and alert to any signs that something may be wrong or out of place. Pay attention to your instincts.
  • Stay in well-lighted areas and walk midway between curb and building. Stay awayfrom alleys and bushes when possible.
  • If you work or study in unoccupied buildings at night, be sure to lock the door to yourspace. Call for an escort if you feel uneasy.
  • Don’t carry extra credit cards or money.
  • Walk with someone whenever possible.
  • Take the shuttle bus or request an escort when traveling alone at night.
  • Don’t fight back if someone demands or forcibly takes your wallet, book bag or purse.Turn it over rather than risk personal injury.
  • Keep an inventory of valuable possessions. Mark all items that do not have a uniqueserial number. For assistance in marking possessions, call the police department at ext. 6000 or 713-348-6000.
  • Do not attach your identification to your key chain or mark your keys with your nameand address.
  • Get to know neighbors and exchange information about suspicious activities.
  • When using an automated teller machine after banking hours, use a well-lighted,visible location. ATMs located inside a store or a mall give more visibility.
  • Call the police department to report a crime or suspicious activity or to discuss anyother concern.
  • When jogging, do not wear headphones and be sure to pay attention to others aroundyou and to vehicles approaching jogging paths.
  • If you feel threatened, go to the nearest place you feel secure and call the police.
  • If you feel you are being followed, go to a safe location and call the police. If you are driving, do not go to your residence or attempt to outrun the other person. Drive to the nearest police station if possible.



Office safety

  • When working late, make sure doors to your work space are locked. Let someone knowyour location and the time you expect to leave.
  • Never prop doors open, even for a short time.
  • Do not loan your office keys or allow them to be copied.
  • Do not hold the door open for anyone. Even if you recognize them, it doesn’t meanthey have after-hours access to your building or work area.
  • Use main stairwells or elevators whenever possible.
  • Keep your purse, wallet or other valuables in a locked cabinet or drawer. Never leavethem on or underneath a desk.





Car safety

  • Lock all doors after parking.
  • Keep a copy of your registration, title and vehicle identification number in a safeplace.
  • Store your valuables, such as tapes or CDs and radar detectors, out of sight. Your trunkis a good place.
  • If you park your car on campus but don’t use it regularly, check on it daily.
  • Report thefts — as well as suspicious activity in parking lots or near a parked car —to the police department.
  • Consider an antitheft device, such as a kill switch, for your vehicle.
  • If confronted by a car jacker, do not resist. Get away and call the police.
  • When driving, be aware of persons standing near intersections. Remove theopportunity for a carjacking by creating distance between you and anyone who makes you uncomfortable by approaching your car.
  • If bumped from behind by a car, drive to a safe public location before getting out ofyour vehicle.



Bike safety

  • Ride defensively, with the flow of traffic.
  • Use hand signals.
  • Walk your bike across busy intersections.
  • Perform regular bike maintenance.
  • Register your bike with the police department.
  • Use bicycle racks and a high-security U-shaped lock.
  • Do not chain or otherwise attach bike to trees, handrails, light poles, or other devices or structures where they could become a safety hazard or cause property damage.
  • Report suspicious persons loitering around bike racks.