Drexel keeps public safety as first priority | The Triangle

Drexel keeps public safety as first priority

Living in an urban campus, we know that the city can get a bad rap for being dirty and crime-ridden, but we also know that it’s often just perpetuated rumor. In the area around University City, we’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to crime. Of course there are a few crimes that make the news, but taken as a whole we have a very safe campus.

We feel that credit must be given where credit is due. The officers of Drexel’s Public Safety Department are always visible and quick to react when there are issues. At The Triangle we have the unique opportunity to interact with these officers, but unfortunately it’s usually when a crime has already happened.

So we’d like to take a moment to congratulate the Department for taking the lead in doing the side of police work that rarely makes the news, providing enough officers to keep students safe on campus.

Senior Associate Vice President of Public Safety Domenic Ceccanecchio has the clout to meet with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the way the recession has affected the public-safety sector, and we feel quite a bit of pride that Drexel was included in that discussion.

As Vice President Biden said to reporters, 10,000 police officers have been laid off nationwide in the last year. The fact that Drexel has recognized that public safety programs shouldn’t be cut (in fact, Drexel just added more officers during a ceremony last week) shows that the Public Safety leadership recognizes the need for a strong police presence around our urban campus. Drexel’s expanding police force also fills the whole that layoffs in the Philadelphia Police Department left.

With the U.S. Department of Education reporting 15 murders and 2,522 aggravated assaults at college campuses in U.S. territories in 2010, we’re very happy that Drexel has taken a strong interest in public safety and that our policies are involved on a national level in ensuring that all of us are safe on campus.