TH E C L A C K A M A S P R IN T
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N O V . 5, 2 0 1 4
| V O L . 48 ISSUE 4
C ampus hopes to improve security
By Alberto Hernandez
eep. Beep. Beep. The morning
“We are searching for strong things,” said Cochran,
alarm goes off. A student show “Background in policing, someone that under
ers, gets dressed, brushes teeth stands that the college is different. Different demo
and finds a way to the Clackamas graphics and we are in the business of education
Community College campus. In ... the position is being advertised now. We should
the midst of the many routines have someone hired by mid December.”
encountered in the morning, one doesn’t usually
stop to think: will something bad happen at school
At this time, Cochran has stepped in to the posi
today?
tion of Director of Campus Safety until someone is
hired later this year. Although the position is being
Are students really protected and secure while be temporarily filled, most students feel a lack of safety
ing on campus grounds? Bob Cochran, Dean of while being on campus.
Campus Services, has many departments under his
wing and one of them is campus safety.
“I honestly don’t feel safe when I’m walking on cam
pus,” said Tracy Robertson, a CCC student. “I have
“My team takes care of the custodial department, a Taser in my purse and when I run, [and] I carry
engineering, maintenance, campus safety, duplica pepper spray on a lanyard because you never know
what may happen. Even when I’m not running, I
tion and the mail room,” Cochran said.
carry it around my neck.”
B
On Oct. 13, the Director of Campus Safety Suzy
Isham resigned her position here at CCC for a job
opportunity at Oregon Health and Science Univer
sity, leaving her current position vacant.
Many students feel the same way. “W hen I leave
campus late there is usually someone already wait
ing for me at the parking lot, but I don’t feel safe,”
said Tyra Keet, a student at CCC. “I always carry
around a stainless steel water bottle on me so if
someone tries to do something, I can hit them with
it”
Other schools around the area have improved their
campus safety. Schools like Portland State Uni
versity and University of Oregon have emergency
phones on campus, so if someone is in danger, they
can push the button and the department of campus
safety will be notified.
“CCC should have these emergency phone systems
on campus, and I feel that it should be a requirement
for all large schools to have systems like these,” said
Hi’Shale Brown, a student at CCC. “It’s not like high
school when we are all in the same building. There
are many buildings here and the campus closes a
lot later.”
Photo contributed by Jaime Dunkle
Christine Burquez, a senior in psychology at Portland
State University, said she thinks the emergency buttons
on campus are useful and “awesome”
Campus Safety officer Pete Kandratieff said stu
dents should still be aware of the services we already
have. “We have something similar like that already,”
said Kandratieff. “We have courtesy phones in each
building. They aren’t as practical to just pushing a
button, you still have to dial a number.”
If the $90 million bond measure passed, the emer
gency phones would be a new addition. “We hope
to have six to 12 emergency call boxes,” said Co
chran. “If you need to be escorted to your car you
can dial 6650 on your phone. You can also sign up
to Flash Alert, which is the best way we can com
municate with you.”
CCC always has an officer monitoring the Oregon
City campus, as well as Harmony and Wilsonville
campuses. The regular operation hours for the de
partm ent of campus safety is from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.