• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Why would UVA students need to carry?

Repeater

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
2,498
Location
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Oh look, crimes against students without arms:

Police investigate robbery of UVa students

Charlottesville police are investigating the robbery of two University of Virginia students on Friday night.

The victims told police they were approached by two men, one of who was carrying a “cutting instrument”, the release said. The two men demanded the wallet of one of the victims and then ran off, the release said.

In a message to students and university faculty and staff on Saturday, UVa Police Chief Michael A. Gibson warned students to be aware of their surroundings.

“While Charlottesville remains a relatively safe environment, crimes do occur in our community,” he said. “The best defense is to be prepared and to take responsibility for your own safety and for that of your friends and fellow students.”

Gee, a college police chief who (sort of) sounds like Philip Van Cleave.

Except for the no-gun stuff.
 

Jay

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Messages
307
Location
Charlottesville, VA
FYI: As a UVA Employee I would just like to point out that this is the third robbery of this type within the past month around campus, and they have all happened in broad daylight. I wish I could carry as part of my job requires me to walk around the grounds.
 

skidmark

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
10,444
Location
Valhalla
FYI: As a UVA Employee I would just like to point out that this is the third robbery of this type within the past month around campus, and they have all happened in broad daylight. I wish I could carry as part of my job requires me to walk around the grounds.

Jay, don't they have those phone kiosks where you can call the campus police and ask for an escort?

stay safe.
 

Jay

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Messages
307
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Jay, don't they have those phone kiosks where you can call the campus police and ask for an escort?

stay safe.


Yes but I have a sneaky suspicion I won't get robbed while I'm standing on top of one, and with all the walking I have to do I'd probably pee of a lot of people if I asked for an escort everytime.
 

skidmark

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
10,444
Location
Valhalla
Yes but I have a sneaky suspicion I won't get robbed while I'm standing on top of one, and with all the walking I have to do I'd probably pee of a lot of people if I asked for an escort everytime.

They have an escort service because they know the campus is a dangerous place. They have created a means of mitigating that danger to you. Use it - it's better than going out on your own and being the one responsible for whatever happens to you.

In other words, if they say the only way to be safe on campus is to carry a cop, carry a cop. Perhaps they will see why that will not work so well for them if everybody wants to carry their own cop. Maybe they will try to establish convoy routes so that campus cops/escorts can provide safety to groups instead of individuals. (Ask the Merchant Marines of WWII how effective that was for individual ships as opposed to whole convoys. Wonder what percentage of loss the Board of Visitors will say is acceptable.) If they reach the point where they cannot or will not provide sufficient safe escort yet cannot assure campus safety without escorts, then maybe they will see that they must* allow the individual to provide the means of self protection.

* "must" as in being told by the courts and their insurance underwriter (which for UVa would be the General Assembly and the taxpayers).

stay safe.
 

67GT390FB

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
860
Location
Richmond, Virginia, USA
They have an escort service because they know the campus is a dangerous place. They have created a means of mitigating that danger to you. Use it - it's better than going out on your own and being the one responsible for whatever happens to you.

In other words, if they say the only way to be safe on campus is to carry a cop, carry a cop. Perhaps they will see why that will not work so well for them if everybody wants to carry their own cop. Maybe they will try to establish convoy routes so that campus cops/escorts can provide safety to groups instead of individuals. (Ask the Merchant Marines of WWII how effective that was for individual ships as opposed to whole convoys. Wonder what percentage of loss the Board of Visitors will say is acceptable.) If they reach the point where they cannot or will not provide sufficient safe escort yet cannot assure campus safety without escorts, then maybe they will see that they must* allow the individual to provide the means of self protection.

* "must" as in being told by the courts and their insurance underwriter (which for UVa would be the General Assembly and the taxpayers).

stay safe.

SKID you do realize that the university escort service is staffed by students either volunteering or getting paid minimum wage(can't remember which) to staff the van or at least it was back in the mid 90's when i was a student there.
 

TFred

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
7,750
Location
Most historic town in, Virginia, USA
SKID you do realize that the university escort service is staffed by students either volunteering or getting paid minimum wage(can't remember which) to staff the van or at least it was back in the mid 90's when i was a student there.
Sounds like a great way to ensure a two-fer robbery instead of just a single victim.

TFred
 

skidmark

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
10,444
Location
Valhalla
Not only do (did) I realize the escort service is (was) staffed by students/work-study pawns, and that sending them with potential victims creates a two-fer opportunity, I realize that the most recent case law - coming out of the Mary Washington U. rape case - says that Virginia has no duty to protect its students.

Yes, folks, I am willing to sacrifice some perfectly good students to force a change in policy/regulation. Or, to be more precise, to get the Boards of Visitors to either contemplate that happening or openly state that in fact the campi are dangerous and they (BoV and campus cops) can offer no meaningful protection thus putting students, faculty and staff at their own peril. From there it becomes harder to support continuing the existing policy/regulation.

Additionally, I think that the fine folks who make up the escort service know they really cannot do anything meaningful to stop crime on campus, but are willing to make the gesture anyhow. Once they are aware that the BoV are willing to throw them to the wolves they just might decide to stop being escorts, which will further force the issue.

I may not be a Master-level chess player but I can think a few moves ahead. So far it is tactics instead of strategy. Anybody have a better idea to advance?

stay safe.
 

TFred

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
7,750
Location
Most historic town in, Virginia, USA
Not only do (did) I realize the escort service is (was) staffed by students/work-study pawns, and that sending them with potential victims creates a two-fer opportunity, I realize that the most recent case law - coming out of the Mary Washington U. rape case - says that Virginia has no duty to protect its students.

Yes, folks, I am willing to sacrifice some perfectly good students to force a change in policy/regulation. Or, to be more precise, to get the Boards of Visitors to either contemplate that happening or openly state that in fact the campi are dangerous and they (BoV and campus cops) can offer no meaningful protection thus putting students, faculty and staff at their own peril. From there it becomes harder to support continuing the existing policy/regulation.

Additionally, I think that the fine folks who make up the escort service know they really cannot do anything meaningful to stop crime on campus, but are willing to make the gesture anyhow. Once they are aware that the BoV are willing to throw them to the wolves they just might decide to stop being escorts, which will further force the issue.

I may not be a Master-level chess player but I can think a few moves ahead. So far it is tactics instead of strategy. Anybody have a better idea to advance?

stay safe.
Sadly, this is very much like the game VDOT plays with people's lives on the road. They won't install a traffic light at a dangerous intersection until a certain death quota is reached. And even then in some cases they won't do it pending other circumstances.

How much more morbid can you get? "I'm sorry, not enough people have died yet, you'll have to wait..."

TFred
 

roscoe13

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
1,134
Location
Catlett, Virginia, USA
Sadly, this is very much like the game VDOT plays with people's lives on the road. They won't install a traffic light at a dangerous intersection until a certain death quota is reached. And even then in some cases they won't do it pending other circumstances.

How much more morbid can you get? "I'm sorry, not enough people have died yet, you'll have to wait..."

TFred

That's not VDOT's fault, it's DMV's fault. If they wouldn't issue driver's licenses to anyone who can fog a mirror, we wouldn't need so many traffic lights...

Roscoe
 

skidmark

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
10,444
Location
Valhalla
Sadly, this is very much like the game VDOT plays with people's lives on the road. They won't install a traffic light at a dangerous intersection until a certain death quota is reached. And even then in some cases they won't do it pending other circumstances.

How much more morbid can you get? "I'm sorry, not enough people have died yet, you'll have to wait..."

TFred

But it's not until the populace learns that is how VDOT works that any meaingful pressure can be put on them to "do something" about the dangerous intersection - install traffic controls, re-engineer the intersection, or close the road. So once folks learn that those are "the rules" that VDOT plays by they start counting the fatalities and publicizing that VDOT is waiting because we are still at "X-n" and not yet at "X". In the meantime you either continue to take your chances driving through the intersection or you find another route that avoids it.

If the sheer number of crimes committed on Virginia campi are not sufficient then create a perception that the BoV are just waiting until the number reaches whatever magic tipping point necessary to force them into action. I'm sorry that Virginia's students, faculty and staff will have to suffer until that happens. Or - they could just go somewhere else where it is safer or they are allowed to take responsibility for their own safety because the Powers That Be will not or cannot take that responsibility.

stay safe.
 
Top