AU police speak on campus safety after slaying of nursing student

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Laken Riley’s death has renewed the conversation about campus safety.

At the University of Georgia, there is an online petition for blue call boxes.

Augusta University campus police say those call boxes were removed from UGA’s campus back in 2004.

We talked with Augusta University Police to learn more about how they are improving safety.

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Captain Harry Smith says AU has no intentions of moving those call boxes anytime soon.

Smith said: “Our college students are mostly young people. I have a kid in college myself right now, I worry about his safety,” said Smith.

AU’s police department sits at the entrance to the medical district in downtown Augusta.

“Even if you don’t see an AU police officer, right there, there’s one not too far away,” said Smith. “Throughout our campus, we have the blue light emergency phones. That blue light is a sign of our presence there.”

For the blue light system, you press a button and it automatically takes your call to the campus police department.

Smith says the majority of their calls come through the RAVE Guardian app. The app is designed for students and staff to provide more safety resources.

“The conversations moving forward are about how to best effectively use those programs, those outreach measures, the tools that we as a university community provide,” said Smith.

Smith says AU’s police department recently received a grant from the Department of Justice to bring technology upgrades for safety and security. He says a large piece of that grant is to increase camera coverage on campus.

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