Task Force on Community Safety and Well-Being

• Connect students with education and resources so they are more informed about crime prevention, bystander intervention and how to access resources
• Consider the impact of alcohol on crime and promote harm reduction and prevention efforts 

• Launched Safety Spotlight video series featuring self-defense tactics and resources.
• Launched new, comprehensive safety resources webpage.

• Increased engagement and targeted communication with University District students/residents. 
• Variety of communication methods will be critical to not only disseminate information but to also learn from students (what they are experiencing, what they want/need, etc.). 

• Expanded service boundaries and staffing.
• In the process of hiring full-time staff and additional student employees to support the expanded Community Ambassador Program for autumn 2022.
• Provided resources to our students and collected information throughout the school year as part of our annual outreach program. 

Completed (Spring 2022)

Ongoing

• Empower students to gain knowledge about how to promote personal safety

• A new Stay Safe, Buckeyes online safety class to help students enhance their own safety on and off-campus. The one-hour, video-based module is hosted in BuckeyeLearn and covers topics such as crime prevention, crime reporting, when and how the university sends safety notifications and more. 

• Prepare students and their families for the transition from on-campus living to off-campus living

• Solicited feedback from parents and families to keep all Buckeyes informed about the transition off-campus.
• Piloting a revamped workshop with 10 STEP cohorts and to be rolled out to students living in residence halls during the autumn semester
• Recorded a student virtual workshop to be accessible 24/7 (video).
• Worked with Parent and Family Relations to host live and recorded parents/family workshops (video).
• Piloted a revamped workshop with 10 STEP cohorts in autumn 2021. Beginning in autumn 2022, the workshop will be offered to all Step cohorts.
• Working with Residence Life to integrate off-campus education into their Residential Curriculum for first and second-year students.

Completed Fall 2021

Ongoing

• Training topics over the past several years have included implicit bias, bias-based profiling, crisis intervention (has de-escalation components), but a more comprehensive approach would advance these efforts

• Enhanced cultural diversity training for OSUPD. University Police supervisors graduated from a 6-week online leadership course from the National Center for Civil and Human Rights called, “Promoting and Protecting Civil and Human Rights.”
• Partnered with the Kirwan Institute to develop and implement annual training program. See a video on this training from Spring 2022.

Completed (Summer 2021)

Completed (Spring 2022)

• Increase awareness of crime prevention, build relationships with members of the community, reallocate policing resources to situations where their expertise is most needed, deter crime and increase sense of safety

• Reengaged with Community Crime Patrol for off-campus security foot patrols.
• Created Buckeye Block Watch which includes Community Crime Patrol and Block by Block.
• Utilized private security patrols to supplement sworn police and other non-sworn security in off-campus area.
• Relaunched Campus Service Officer program with student security paired in vehicles.

Completed (Fall 2020)

Completed (Fall 2021)

• Security-enhancing work and upgrades aim to increase safety; public safety scorecard will keep community up to date on progress

• Immediate lighting repairs along with a lighting survey to inform longer-term enhancements.
• Monthly surveillance and reporting of streetlight concerns to the City of Columbus by the Community Crime Patrol 
• Added mobile lights (Aug. 27, 2021) along highly traveled off-camus pathways. Transitioned a potion of mobile lights to permanent LED lighting in Spring 2022.
• Working with property owners to encourage and maintain exterior lighting and landscape to promote safety in the community 

Completed (Fall 2020)

Ongoing

Partially Completed (Spring 2022)

Ongoing

• Provide access to safe transportation at all hours when other services such as CABS and COTA are not available

• Expanded discounted ridesharing hours from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. (formerly 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.)
• Expanded service to the Short North, along High Street

Completed (Fall 2020)

Completed (Fall 2021)

• Engage local landlords in meaningful way to educate them on safety as well as provide students with resources on which landlords are partnering with university on safety
• Ensure access and appropriate use of security devices

• Developed the Ohio State Off-Campus Housing Network, which will be a partnership across our community that will support an iconic off-campus residential experience. 
• Property owners that participate in the Ohio State Off-Campus Housing Network will commit to pre-determined criteria and be considered in-network.  Those property owners in-network will be the only entities to access the Ohio State Off-Campus Housing Network benefits. 
• In addition, students and families will have access to information about in-network property owners and will be able to make informed decisions about living off-campus.  

Completed (Spring 2022)

Ongoing

• Enable CPD and OSU DPS to access camera view in the surrounding areas when they become aware of a safety concern  

• Expanded surveillance coverage in the off-campus neighborhoods with the addition of four cameras in Fall 2020 and five during Spring 2021.

• Allows for an OSU police officer to be available as a liaison to help students in the off-campus neighborhoods

• Increased police presence in the off-campus area with a combination of OSUPD and CPD officers. Ohio State and the City of Columbus adjusted to crime trends by redeploying on-duty patrols and staffing patrols on overtime to add to the police presence in the University District.
• OSUPD continues to recruit, hire and train sworn police officers to fill vacancies and retirements. The goal to expand OSUPD coverage, through joint patrol east of High Street, is longer-term and anticipated for FY23. Joint patrol was reinitiated in June 2022.

Completed (Summer 2022)

• To better understand perception of safety as well as student awareness of safety resources

• Issued a student safety survey in Spring 2021 to gauge the overall perception of safety both on and off campus as well as awareness of Ohio State’s resources and programs.
• Results have been analyzed and shared.

Completed (Spring 2021)

Completed (Fall 2022)

• Provide dedicated outreach to properly connect the homeless to resources and support

• Partnered with the UDO to add a full-time Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) in the off-campus area to provide additional outreach and support for the housing vulnerable.
• The College of Social Work will provide placement opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to acquire supervised experience with the LISW as part of their in-the-field training.

• Reinforce relationships between Ohio State and community organizations to address chronic stressors within the campus community thereby increasing safety and wellness. 

• To advance greater safety and wellness, Student Life provided event space and support for an 8-week summer “Pathways to Progress” program for 100 youth (16-18 years old).
• University District Organization and University Area Commission are launching the "Be/well" initiative to engage community members and groups in gathering feedback about community safety and well-being, and how they want to see community cultivated.
• Pre-semester messaging about resources and how to support students is being distributed to local businesses, property owners, etc.

Completed (Summer 2021)

Ongoing

• Improve the relationship between the police and the communities they serve
• Increase positive and safe interactions aimed to build trust and reduce fear with all communities

• A Student Safety Dialogue was held on Thursday, April 22. Students had the opportunity to share what safety means to them to a panel of university and external representatives, including OSUPD, CPD, Student Life and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
• Community outreach and engagement opportunities were offered to programs and student organizations over the summer (i.e., Office of Diversity and Inclusion early arrival, Young Scholars Program, Redefining Athletic Standards, etc.) with future engagement planned an expected throughout the year.