To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff &
           All Undergrad Students & All Grad Students <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "Robert A. Easter, Interim Chancellor and Provost" <chancellor@illinois.edu>

Reply-To: chancellor@illinois.edu
 Subject: MASSMAIL - Campus Safety Update

TO: Students, Faculty Staff, Alumni and Other Members of our Campus 
Community

Over the past three months there has been an increase in batteries, 
robberies and similar crimes on the Champaign-Urbana campus. The campus 
has responded quickly with a focused determination and we will continue 
to take any and all necessary steps to end this trend.
  
We are mindful that there is much anxiety in our community. That is why 
we are holding a Town Hall Meeting on Campus Safety at 3 p.m., Saturday, 
November 13, at Illini Union's Courtyard Cafe. The Chief of Police, the 
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, the Director of Housing and the Dean 
of Students will be on hand to answer questions and provide information 
about campus safety programs. The event will be streamed live at 
http://illinois.edu/here_now/videos.html as well as for viewing at a 
later time. Questions may be phoned in during the meeting at 217-244-8938.

Several key measures we have taken to date:

- Authorized the hiring of three additional police officers and 
unlimited overtime for the police department.

- Installed dozens of cameras in high-crime areas and more than 200 in 
total across campus.

- Worked with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) to use 
their cameras and locations to install more cameras.
 
- Increased student patrols, and aggressively promoted our SafeWalks and 
SafeRides programs.

- Increased security in residence halls. University Housing has locked 
all outside security doors in all halls.

- Facilitated a meeting of city administrators from Champaign and 
Urbana, including police chiefs and the Champaign County Sheriff, to 
create a process for increased coordination and cooperation among the 
four departments. All departments and the Sheriff's Office are 
expending large amounts of overtime to solve this issue, saturating the 
Campus District for the last three weekends with increased patrols. In 
recent weeks police have made more than 25 apprehensions surrounding 
campus assaults and robberies.

For an important FAQ with University of Illinois Police Chief Barb 
O'Connor go to: http://dps.illinois.edu/faq.html
  
We will not tolerate attacks on our students, employees or visitors to 
our campus. We realize that our university is a public institution and 
our objective is not to become a police state. However, extraordinary 
circumstances require extraordinary responses. Moving forward, we will 
act in the best interest of our campus community and we will continue to 
do whatever it takes to meet and exceed everyone's expectation of safety.

Robert A. Easter
Chancellor and Provost (Interim)
This mailing approved by:
The Office of the Chancellor

-- 
This message sent via MASSMAIL.  < http://www.cites.illinois.edu/services/massmail/ >