Enhanced security measures implemented in parking lots around campus

The safety of our faculty, staff and students is our top priority. As our university and health system grows, security measures to ensure our campuses are safe places to work and study — and to ensure our faculty, staff and students FEEL safe on our campuses — must also grow.

To that end, the Augusta University Police Department and AU Health Security are implementing the following security enhancements in outer lots that serve the Health Sciences Campus:

• Contract security guards will patrol the outer lots in lighted golf carts Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., excluding holidays. The outer lots will be grouped into three zones for the purposes of security patrols. Patrols are expected to be in place by the end of fall semester.
• Hiring contract security guards frees up AUPD officers to more frequently patrol parking and other areas on campus. Therefore, AUPD has redesigned the security patrol to focus more heavily on outer parking lots, and an added patrol has been assigned to the Chafee Avenue parking corridor from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• Security cameras are being added to the 17 outer parking lots we own along the Chafee Avenue corridor (in zones 1 and 2). These cameras will feed back to the AUPD’s dispatch center for real-time monitoring of these parking areas.
• A survey of lighting in outer lots has been conducted and enhancements are being installed to ensure optimal illumination.
• The Division of Facilities Services is enhancing landscaping, fencing and other environmental elements in and around parking lots according to the principles of “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.”
• Use of the shuttle system is encouraged as a safe transportation option. But if you need to walk, JagSafe Walking Routes have been identified and will be marked for ease of use. The new golf cart security guards will also patrol these routes.

The AUPD encourages everyone in the university community to take an active role in their own safety and the safety of those around them. Be alert and aware of your surroundings, use JagSafe Walking Routes, walk with others, call for an escort, and download the RAVE Guardian app (free in both the Apple Store and Google Play). Find more safety information on the JagSafe website.

“The AUPD and AU Health Security are committed to providing our employees, students, and patients a safe place to work, study and heal,” said AU Police Chief James Lyon. “We are working every day to ensure that everyone on our campuses is safe and feels comfortable as they travel from place to place.”

Chief Lyon reminds everyone to call 706-721-2911 (x1-2911) to report any safety and security issues on the Health Sciences, Summerville, Medical, Nathan Deal and Forest Hills Campuses.