FILM HELPS STUDENTS GET A DEGREE OF CRIME PREVENTION
19 September 2007
Whatever degree course you’ve signed up for at the University of Gloucestershire, it’s worth doing some homework to help you avoid becoming a victim of crime while you’re studying.
Often living independently for the first time and owning expensive equipment such as lap-tops, IiPods and stereos, students can be seen as easy and lucrative targets by thieves.
Their busy social life also means they need to consider their personal safety while out and about in town.
Gloucester police and the Gloucester Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership therefore set up a stand at the Freshers’ Fair at the Oxstalls campus today to give some easy lessons on how new entrants at the university can keep themselves and their valuables safe.
As well as talking to students, answering questions and advising them to get their property security marked, invest in strong bike locks and to secure doors and windows when they are out, officers and CDRP representatives also showed them a DVD titled Before You Do Think It Through. Set in Gloucestershire and made by the CDRP with previous media students at the university, it raises awareness of issues such as drink-spiking and the need for vigilance at cash-points and with valuables while out socialising. It also considers safe-sex and fire safety. A Leaflet titled Wise Up was also distributed. This includes steps you can take to ensure you’re safe while out jogging and a reminder that offences such as possession of illegal drugs can affect job prospects and travel.
Gloucester Crime Reduction Officer PC Kevin Ireland said: "Gloucester is a pleasant and safe place to live but, like everywhere, there is a criminal element and thieves will be quick to exploit opportunities created by young people who may be concentrating more on their courses and exciting new social life than on safeguarding their valuables and personal safety.
"Becoming a victim of crime can be both traumatic and very inconvenient, for example, you may have to do an important piece of coursework all over again if it’s on a stolen lap-top. Whatever courses you’re doing therefore, it’s really important to listen to a few lessons in crime prevention.
The last thing we want to do is worry students unnecessarily but we do want them to think responsibly about their safety, especially if this is their first time away from home.
"In Gloucester the number of incidents of personal robbery are still reducing but we need to remind students to be careful when out and about in a strange town, in a new environment and making new friends."
The officers and CDRP representatives also offered to security-code students mobiles and gave out trolley coins to visitors to the stand. The substitute £1 coins, featuring the Gloucester CDRP logo and website address, are for use in supermarket trolleys, gym lockers or other places where a £1 coin deposit is needed. By using the CDRP "coins" which are on a key ring, people are able to avoid getting out their purses in public places like supermarket car parks where they could become a victim of robbery.
A limited number of copies of the DVD is available. If you would like one, perhaps because you are a Gloucester resident preparing to leave home for university elsewhere, please call Pat Dabbs at the CDRP on 01452 396984.
.