Being safe on campus is something students should feel comfortable about, but with recent events around, or at, El Camino, that may not be the case.
Through the years, it seems as if safety on campus has been newsworthy; from robberies to sexual assault attempts, death threats and males stalking female students.
“I don’t know how I honestly feel about the safety here on campus,” Hira Rizvi, 19, linguistics major, said.
Since the beginning of this year, there have been several incidents where safety was an issue to students; from the incident where a man was shot at Ramona’s down Crenshaw Boulevard to the former student who threatened to kill his former English professor.
“I feel a bit worried when I hear stories that happen around here, even though I am a male,” Isaias Casas, 18, nursing major, said. “I do take night classes (and) it gets really dark around campus. Sometimes I wonder if I am safe walking around here that late.”
Rizvi thinks that there are many concerns that students should be wary of, considering the recent crime reports and police logs from the El Camino Police Department.
“I do know some of my friends (that) have said that they have been eyed by a lot of guys,” Rizvi said. “I also see a lot of girls that have to carry around pepper spray.”
While Casas believes that students should be more in the know about safety protocols.
“I think there should maybe be some type of way of identifying whether you are a student or not, because anyone can just walk in here and potentially harm someone,” Casas said.
EC is a public institution and many community members traverse the campus on a daily basis, whether people are looking for recyclables through trash or the many religious groups who seek to garner attention to their beliefs.
Despite the various crimes around campus, there are students who feel no danger on campus.
“I feel completely safe, I have not had any problems with anyone at all,” Bethany Lozano, 18, arts major, said. “I am aware of my surroundings but I have never really seen any crimes at all.”
Some students feel that as long as it doesn’t directly affect them.
“Honestly you hear so much bad news now-a-days that it feels like it’s all around anyways,” Minahil Malik, 19, computer science major, said. “When it doesn’t happen to you, it’s not really as scary.”
Ongoing/resolved safety issues:
– El Camino Police chief Michael Trevis denied to comment on the current status of the Dash Porter case in an email because “the case is still on-going and set for trial.”
Porter threatened his former English professor after receiving a failing grade over the course of a year via Facebook.
Porter is currently not in custody and will have a court hearing in October.
– While former student James Lemus, who threatened to create a massacre on campus, was sentenced to five years of formal probation, after being in custody and in trial for more than a year.
– Signing up for message alerts through an app called Nixle will notify students directly to their mobile devices of any crimes or emergencies happening in and outside of campus. Follow these simple instructions to receive Nixle text messages:
- Compose a text message to: 888777 (no dashes)
- Text the following message:
ECCPD to receive alerts from El Camino College or
CECPD to receive alerts from ECC Compton Center - You will receive the following text message: “Thank you for signing up for El Camino College Police Department Alerts.”
