Augusta, GA

AU police speak on campus safety after slaying of nursing student

Published

2 years ago

February 27, 2024

Press Room

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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Augusta, GA

Local group holds 4th annual walk against autism

Published

2 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

Local group holds 4th annual walk against autism

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – April is Autism Awareness Month, and one local group raised awareness with a walk in Augusta on Sunday.

The fourth annual autism walk was hosted by Moving Over Mountains Against autism at Lake Olmstead Park.

All proceeds from the walk support autism awareness initiatives.

We spoke with the CEO and founder of the group, Deidre Roberson, who said this year they are dedicating the walk to their photographer, who died recently.

Roberson told us what she looks forward to the most.

“I look most forward to seeing the different people every year. We always meet different people, new people, and they come from all over the CSRA, so Washington, Wilkes, Carolina,” she said.

There were also several vendors providing resources to families.

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Augusta, GA

From Augusta roots to Nighthawks leader: Nolan Belcher comes home

Published

14 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

From Augusta roots to Nighthawks leader: Nolan Belcher comes home

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)- Augusta University baseball is in a three-game series matchup against the University of North Georgia.

AU is currently down in the series 0-2 after a close loss Friday and a loss Saturday.

But we aren’t focusing on the Jags, we’re going to take a look at North Georgia’s head coach, Nolan Belcher.

He is an Augusta native who began his career at Greenbrier and Augusta Christian.

He won three state championships, which then led him to play for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

There he won back-to-back national championships and finished runner up in 2012.

His coaching career began after that where he eventually joined the Peach belt Confrence, coaching at USCA and GCSU.

Now in his first season as head coach for the Nighthawks, he is happy to come home and coach in front of his friends and family.

“I’m very fortunate that I got family that, one is still around and they can come watch me do what I love. And, they’ve shown me, nothing but support throughout my whole coaching career and even back on my playing dates are very thankful and appreciative for everything they’ve done for me.”

AU and UNG will have their final series match on Sunday.

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