There have been many stories of attacks on campuses in Ghana. Some do hit the headlines from time to time but many attacks on campus go unreported.
One thing that every tertiary student has thought about at one point or another is how he/she can stay safe on campus. Whether it’s when you’re walking to your hostel or walking to your car late at night or being alone in the empty library, it is something we all worry about. With recent events that threaten security on campus, it is more important than ever for students and authorities on campuses to find ways of ensuring adequate security.
“Do you know that after that, there are lecturers who come to the office with their weapons in their cars? I’m telling you today. Yes, if I have registered my gun, then if I’m coming to class, I have to bring it along because the child I thought was a kid says he isn’t, he can set my car ablaze. Kwame, are you saying we need to celebrate?”
These are quotes from Prof. Marfo a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), who recently spoke passionately on security issues after students on campus went of a violent demonstration against authorities of the school last year. Security is a necessity and not a luxury. Everyone on campus could become a victim of violent crime even if you are a student, lecturer or administrator.
Here are few security tips for both heads of tertiary schools and students that can ensure safety on campus.
Find Peer Groups
Having a peer group is one of the best ways of ensuring your safety at all time on campus. These groups could be your course mates, study pals or people you are familiar with at the dorms or hostels. Should you find yourself studying late at the library or class or want someone to escort you somewhere at odd times you can call on them to help you out. Always walk around with other people if it is late at night, if you are in a group it is way less likely for someone to attack you or even bully you.
Get Pepper spray, mace or a whistle
Go out and buy a few things to protect yourself. It will definitely be worth the money, trust me. You may not have your peer groups always around and that is why you should have some safety gadget in your bag. The campus should be a place where you worry about doing well on a test, not being assaulted. Having a mere whistle can be a big deal especially in the night. Many attacks on campuses have taken place in dark and quiet areas that’s why even a whistle can save your life
Go For A Self-Defence Class
Taking a self-defence class is a great way to feel safer on campus because you will be able to physically protect yourself against an attacker. These classes are not so common on Ghanaian campus but Student representative council can reach out to security service providers to take students through these class. If you are looking for a professional to help you with self-defence class contact global sky limited.
Self – defence classes cover various realistic self-defence tactics and techniques especially for women. These classes usually will take a student through a comprehensive course that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and risk avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands-on defence training. Since security service providers are professional you are guaranteed professional service and even workbook/reference manual. This manual outlines the entire Physical Defense Program for reference and continuous personal growth.
Install CCTV on Campus
Having a security camera on tertiary campus is vital to the safety of all stakeholder of the university. This help keeps a close watch on flashpoints areas on campus and is able to monitor and resolve issues of crime. In cases of an incident, such as vandalism CCTV cameras are there to provide you evidence to assist investigations, as CCTV has the mechanism that store footage on either a hard drive or in the cloud. This makes it possible for reviews to determine a security breach.
CCTV cameras make it possible for campus security or the police to monitor the various spaces in real-time, adding an extra set of eyes to watch for potential problems. The fun part is that CCTV help monitors how effective some lecturers in class which enhance productivity. We have an amazing blog post on CCTV go check it out.
Light the Campus
There have been many complaints about attacks on campus mostly at night because of lack of lighting. A lot of the time lights can be folded on parking ground but not places students patrol often. There are no doubts about the potency of lighting to crime prevention.
Lighting systems are very common and most often are the first call in ensuring safety. Security lighting systems can be used in residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and military settings. Some examples of security lighting include floodlights and low-pressure sodium vapour lights among others.
Some security lighting systems are activated by sensors such as passive infrared sensors (PIRs), turning on only when a person or animal approaches. PIR activated lamps will usually be incandescent bulbs so that they can activate instantly; energy saving is less important since they will not be on all the time.
Campus authorities can invest in security lighting systems to ensure safety on campuses especially at night. It should be noted that most patronized events on campuses are billed in the evenings and some run deep into the night
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Global Sky Limited (GSL) is the leading, integrated security company in Ghana, specialising in the delivery of security, monitoring, diagnostics, high-quality CCTV security systems across the 16 regions of Ghana.
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