According to neighborhoodscout.com, “With a crime rate of 51 per one thousand residents, Grand Junction has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in nineteen. Within Colorado, more than 94 percent of the communities have a lower crime rate than Grand Junction… with a safety rating of 5/100.”
Areavibes.com concurs, stating Grand Junction has a crime rate 88 percent higher than the United States and the chance of being a victim is 1/20 with a 6 percent rise in crime rate each year.
To put it bluntly, Grand Junction is not a safe town.
“But, that would never happen to me,” you say to yourself each time you see something tragic on the news when yet again: another girl goes missing from a college campus or a shooting occurs taking the lives of students just like you. You can be sure the victims of each of these crimes never figured it would happen to them either.
According to KJCT8 News, a Colorado Mesa student was arrested this last month “on charges of internet luring of a child, sexual exploitation of a child and criminal attempt of sexual assault on a child.” If you search sex trafficking or drugs in Grand Junction, sadly you will be bombarded with a plethora of charges, news stories and accounts of the evils just outside our door.
Growing up, I constantly was told to “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” It was not a motto I was very keen on, and blatantly repudiated to live by for years. I believe the world is mostly good and refused to live life through rose-tinted glasses, afraid each man I run across is an evil villain.
That was until February 9, 2016 came around. As it is ingrained into the memory of all Grand Junction residents, this was the day Officer Derek Geer was shot in the line of duty. This tragedy happened two houses from mine, bringing the true dangers of the world literally to my doorstep. Bad things can happen anywhere, even in a quiet neighborhood in our safe little city.
However, CMU’s campus is astonishingly safe. According to the Colorado Mesa University Main Campus Annual 2018 Clery Security/ Fire Safety Report the amount of crime that happened on campus is practically non-existent in the reported years since 2015. How is it that in such an unsafe city, the Colorado Mesa campus a haven?
“It begins with the word culture,” David Ludlam, Public Relations Director for the Office of Development, said. “When you are building a safe campus, it starts with building a safe culture.”
The staff and faculty on campus go above and beyond to ensure this culture of safety is implemented in all aspects, and it starts with our campus police force. Many colleges have their own security systems with deputized officers in place. But CMU has paired with the Grand Junction (GJ) Police Force directly to ensure our safety.
The GJ police force have a continual presence on campus with their office located across Orchard where the old community hospital is, near the lacrosse field.
President Foster, Vice President John Marshall and Pua Utu, Director of Campus Safety and Student Conduct, all take this matter very seriously. “Building a culture of safety, where people are focused on it, people have an awareness of it, (sic) with on-going trainings around it, and you have the programing you need to be able to institute that,” Ludlam said, “the campus focuses on it and prioritizes it.”
On top of the ever-present police force, the administration has gone even further to help ensure the safety of the students with programs in place such as MavRides and the Safe Walk Program.
For those that don’t know about the Safe Walk program, it offers a Trained Campus Assistant to walk students and faculty around campus or up to two blocks off-campus. It is available from 6:00 p.m.- 2:00 a.m. for anyone who may be nervous to walk around late by themselves. To get ahold of them, just call 970-260-2683.
We cannot live our lives in constant terror that something horrendous is going to happen, so this is not a scare tactic, but there are things to be aware of and steps to take to keep yourself from walking into the hands of danger.
This has probably been beaten to death at this point, but I feel it is incredibly important to mention in recent light of the girl who was murdered after getting into the wrong Uber. Verify your driver is correct! The best advise I have been given, is make your driver ask your name to verify they have the correct person before hopping in without care. If you don’t know what a Camry looks like, google it!
If you are walking alone, especially at night, keep your mind alert and pay attention to your surroundings. Keep your eyes up and your phones down. Don’t have your headphones in. A surprise attack is easy to achieve when you have positioned yourself to be taken by complete surprise due to your lack of attention. Better yet, walk with a buddy. This can be someone you trust or you can use the Safe Walk Program. Even once you get to your vehicle or dorm building, don’t drop your awareness until you have a locked door between you and the outside world.
Most importantly – just stay present and alert.
It’s possible and highly doable to live anywhere and have a safe life. Young women live alone in downtown Atlanta and Detroit safely every single day. Pay attention, stay aware and take advantage of the safety features Mesa has to offer. And lastly, stay safe out there.
