UBC has released the 2022 Vancouver campus security report.
This year campus security received a total of 10,017 calls for service, a slight increase from the previous report’s 8,889.
Director of Campus Security Sam Stephens said the university’s crime statistics are “quite aligned” with regional numbers. Stephens took over the role in June 2022, after the discovery of former director Harry Hackl’s inflammatory tweets.
Stephens attributes the increased amount of calls for service toward more activity on campus as students and staff continue returning to pre-pandemic in-person levels.
“Our statistics are really proportionate and quite often slower than we expected to see coming out of the COVID wave,” he said.
Overall, levels of personal crime are consistent with previous years, and levels of robbery are decreasing.
However, the number of reported assaults doubled from 2021 statistics. These incidents include five assaults between parties known to each other, three unprovoked attacks and two targeted at on-duty security officers.
With the return of students and staff to campus post-pandemic, the report notes a shift from the type of property crime, shifting from property-based theft to increasing theft of “more opportunistic assets,” like electronics.
Public safety services, including usage of campus blue phone systems and requests to check on select students, have increased across most fronts. However, the security report attributes decreased levels of safety transport requests due to increased services in AMS safe walk programs and other data collection process changes.
One of the highest areas of increase include “checks on student welfare.” This number increased from 46 to 93. Stephens noted that these checks are not always driven by mental health calls, but often come from parents or friends that can not get in touch with a person.
Campus Security’s accomplishments and future goals
This year, Campus Security’s main achievements revolved around new advanced training opportunities for its staff as well as the launch of its engagement phase of the Model Validation Project, an initiative focused on researching and designing an improved security model to serve the changing needs of campus.
The Campus Security team has undergone a six-module program on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, a mental health first aid training (MHFA) and an advanced security training certification. The MHFA training, certified through the Mental Health Commission of Canada, will ensure staff are adequately equipped with the resources necessary to respond to the increasing number of safety calls connected to mental health challenges.
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“We are running into the ability to understand mental health challenges and understand where our role and support services can be,” said Stephens.
He mentioned that naloxone training is provided to all security officers within the program whether it be in-person or online.
“We recognize that the environments that security is providing services in has changed, and is continuing to change,” he said. With the SkyTrain coming to campus, more residences being built, construction, and various societal changes, this project looks to adapt to those changes and develop the best practices.
Stephens said that Campus Security has been “doing a lot of listening” in this stage of the project, which included workshops, surveys and third-party engagement. This information will be used to assess campus security’s services and values in their practices.
“We’re really trying to focus on the longterm,” said Stephens in reference to the Model Validation Project’s work.
“The community is changing, expectations are changing, and we want to make sure we’re staying aligned to that.”