Safety on Campus

The personal safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors to St. John Fisher University is the top priority of the Office of Safety and Security.

Emergency Guidelines

Please take a moment to review the Office of Safety and Security's Emergency Guidelines [pdf]. An additional resource recommended for faculty, staff, and students is Surviving an Active Shooter Event, a video by Texas State University's Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT)™ Program.

Reporting Criminal Activity

Students, faculty, staff, and visitors are urged to report all campus criminal activity and emergencies immediately to the Office of Safety and Security who will in turn contact the local law enforcement and emergency services as needed. Law enforcement and emergency services may be contacted directly if necessary; however, we ask that Safety and Security also be notified as soon as possible. Security officers are required to respond, investigate, and document all campus criminal activity and emergencies.

In keeping with New York State law, violent felony offenses reported to the Universitywill automatically be reported to law enforcement authorities.

Campus Crime Prevention

Crime prevention is the responsibility of all members of the St. John Fisher University community. In order to develop crime prevention awareness within the Universitycommunity, the Office of Safety and Security, the Office of Residential Life, and the Monroe County Sheriff provide crime prevention information and training by means of residence hall floor meetings, department briefings, campus newspaper articles, safety brochures, flyers, and electronic mail. Timely campus notices regarding serious incidents and/or crimes are also issued.

The Universityencourages students to follow this advice for their personal safety:

On-Campus

Secure valuables out of sight.
Know your community members.
Know the location of the nearest blue light phone.
Report suspicious people or events to security.
Do not give your keys to anyone.
Report lost keys immediately.
Do not prop doors open or leave doors open. Propped-open doors provide access for intruders.
Do not loan your credit cards or your PIN numbers to anyone.

Walking

Do not walk alone.
Avoid unlighted areas.
Plan your route.
Use public walkways.
Tell someone of your destination and expected time of return.
Do not carry substantial amounts of cash.
Do not stop for strangers.
Do not hitchhike.

Driving

Do not drive after drinking alcoholic beverages or get in a vehicle operated by someone who has been drinking.
Know your driver and passengers.
Lock unattended vehicles.
Do not pick up hitchhikers.
Do not leave valuables in vehicle.
Obey all traffic regulations.
Park in designated, lighted areas.
Check your vehicle frequently.
Report all accidents or damage to vehicles to security.

In the Residence Halls

Refer to the Fire Safety Information for Residence Halls page.

Campus Escort Service

The Office of Safety and Security offers a Campus Escort Service for on-campus use by all students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To use the escort service, call Safety and Security at (585) 385-8025 or from any blue light or courtesy phone. A security officer or student escort will be dispatched to your location.

UniversitySafety Committee

The Safety Committee exists to fulfill the New York State requirement to review the University’s sexual assault policy and to provide an annual report of the safety policy recommendations to the Universitypresident.

The Advisory Committee on Campus Safety will provide, upon request, all campus crime statistics as reported to the United States Department of Education. This request should be made to the director of safety and security at (585) 385-8025.

In addition, the committee assesses safety risks by monitoring the University’s physical security including lighting, emergency blue light phones, walkways, environmental design, traffic safety, and other life safety issues.

The Universitycommunity (students, faculty, staff, and visitors) are encouraged to make recommendations on the safety issues and policies and report any safety problems they witness to the committee. The committee works collaboratively with the Health and Wellness Center, the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Committee, Facilities Services, Human Resources Department, and the Office of Safety and Security.

Emergency Notification System

The Universityhas partnered with Rave Mobile Safety to provide an emergency notification system to alert students, faculty, and staff of emergency conditions on campus by delivering messages to their Fisher or personal email addresses, as well as their landline and mobile phones.

Members of the campus community are automatically enrolled in the program with contact information from Fish 'R' Net and Banner. To manage your account and confirm your emergency contact information, just log in to Rave Alert using your Fisher network credentials (email user ID and password). Note that your mobile phone provider may charge a per-text-message fee for the delivery of emergency notifications to your phone.

If you need assistance managing your Rave Alert account, please review OIT'sEmergency Notification System informationor contact the OIT Service Desk for additional information.

If the campus needs to be evacuated, the Rave Alert system, as well as responding safety and security officers and other responsible campus officials, will provide instructions.

St. John Fisher University will, without unnecessary delay, and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system, unless the notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.

When an emergency is reported, safety and security personnel will respond immediately and determine the nature and scope of the incident. The on-duty supervisor will notify the director of safety and security or, in his/her absence, the assistant director who will determine the need for an emergency notification. The following people are authorized to determine the content of and initiate an emergency notification: director of marketing and communications; director of safety and security; or the director of network services.

This system will be tested periodically and at least once a year.