Personal safety tips for students
With one third of students estimated to become victims of crime during their academic career and 20 per cent of student robberies occurring in the first six weeks of the academic year – what is your University doing to make you safer?
In recent weeks the media has been splatted with headlines boasting of a reduction in crime in the UK. Proud crime statistics showed that overall crime has fallen by 5% since 2011 (give or take a per cent or two depending upon which newspaper you read) but even with crime rates dropping – becoming a victim of crime can really take the gloss off student life. So what is your University doing to make you safer and what can you do to avoid becoming a crime statistic?
Check if your university providing free Street Survival Skills training – some do. But even if your establishment isn’t offering training – there are still things you can do to make yourself safer.
Check out our five top tips for helping you ‘stay safe and party on’
Get to know your new environment:
- Get to know where the “No Go” areas are.
- Ask ‘established’ students where they are and avoid these suburbs especially when alone.
Find out about the crime trends in your new city:
These will vary from city to city across the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. How do you find out about crime trends in your new city?
- Ask those who’ve been there for a while what they are concerned about;
- In the UK you can access the www.police.uk website to check crimes in your locality.
- Observe how the locals dress / behave and copy them to blend in – do people carry their backpack’s on their backs or, more like a baby carrier, in front of their body? THINK – why are they doing this?
3. How secure is your new flat?
Ask your landlord if your flat or block has had any break ins – in the UK they have a duty to disclose this information – if you ask –
- Check the website www.police.uk and look at the ‘crime map’ to find out what crimes have occurred in your locality – is your street one named on the crime map? Find out why.
- Do what you can to make your place more secure by using extra security and get good insurance.
- Get advice from your local neighbourhood crime team;
- Make sure windows and doors are closed & locked before you go out.
4. Out and about and partying – avoid the risk of getting your drinks spiked by:
Drinking from a bottle rather than a glass – it is harder for someone to drop something into a bottle than a glass. Better yet get a specially designed stopper that you can insert a straw in to but which closes off the neck of the bottle.
- Don’t leave your drinks unattended.
- Plan ahead – make sure someone knows where you are going, who you are meeting and when you expect to return.
- Go out as a group – come back as a group – look out for your mates.
- Always plan how you are going to get home and book a taxi before you leave home using a cab firm recommended by your University.
5. Travel Safety
If you have a car think carefully about where you will park it and what you leave in it – is it obvious it’s a woman’s car? You might want to leave a motorbike magazine in the car or something similar to make it less obvious.
- Think about the risks you face when getting in to a taxi – if you just flag a taxi down in the street who else knows where you are? THINK – this the perfect place to carry out a crime against you.
- And after a great night out make sure you have enough money to get home again!
For more personal safety tips sign up to our newsletter or contact Julie for details of your nearest street survival skills training event. Julie@brooksjordan.co.uk
Tel: 01623 407793
or go to: www.brooksjordan.co.uk
