The Associated Students of Madison launched its Neighborhood Watch program at Memorial Union Friday night to help assist police in patrolling areas frequented by its fellow students.
""Campus safety is the number one issue [on campus],"" said recently elected District 8 alder Eli Judge at the launch.
The kickoff was well attended, with extra groups of students being sent out due to the large number of volunteers and live news coverage from CBS and ABC.
""Our goal is to get more people on the streets at night so students will not be walking alone,"" said Kelly Arendt, ASM campus safety coordinator.
ASM began taking on the issue of campus safety more than a year- and-a-half ago according to ASM Campus Relations Chair Christie Penn. She said students wanted more blue emergency lights on the Lakefront area of campus, but a study found these were not successful in improving overall safety.
Students also told ASM they wanted a greater presence on the streets, but not necessarily a police presence Penn said. Additionally, ASM had looked at other universities that had been successful in helping safety on their campuses, according to Penn.
""We're not out to get drunk kids walking home or bust house parties,"" said Officer Craig Kolbeck in response to concerns over the vigilance of the Neighborhood Watch program. ""The students are doing this to promote safety, if they see something suspicious they call the police, we just need another set of eyes.""
The program is being piloted this semester and organizes volunteers around the College Court and Spring Street areas. Penn said the area was chosen since it is a heavily populated student region, but because it is not on university property it is not patrolled by campus police.
ASM plans to extend the program to additional areas in the Regent Street, State Street and Camp Randall neighborhoods. The program currently runs Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The neighborhood patrol started after a number of high profile crimes on campus, including an assault and abduction on Observatory Drive.
