Community Relations & Crime Prevention

Crime Prevention and Safety programs are planned throughout the academic year. Notifications will be posted throughout the campus in main areas such as The Fuller Student Center, The Harrington Learning Center, and the Cafe. Programs include, but are not limited to RAD Women's Self Defense, Domestic Violence Workshops, Alcohol Awareness, and Fire Safety. 

How you can help make your campus safer:

• Timely notifications of criminal acts
• CPR/First aid training
• Dissemination of crime prevention

​Lock Your Door! Keep Your Keys!

LOCK YOUR DOOR - This is the single best deterrent.

LOCK YOUR DOOR - Even if you are only going to the bathroom or into the room next door.

LOCK YOUR DOOR - Even if it is left open for just ONE minute, the risk is always great.  It takes approximately only eight seconds for someone to walk into an open room and remove something such as a wallet or purse.

KEEP YOUR KEYS - DO NOT loan your keys to anyone - - even a friend.  They may not be as careful with them as you are and may lose or misplace them must long enough for the wrong person to gain possession of them.

KEEP YOUR KEYS - DO NOT leave them lying around in public places or in your coat or jacket pocket when you are not wearing it.  Someone may take the keys, have an impression and duplicate made, and even return them afterwards so that you will not be suspicious and you will not change your locks.

KEEP YOUR KEYS - NEVER let someone else use your key unless you are there.  They may not lock the room upon leaving.

KEEP YOUR KEYS - If you are entrusted with a key to a room or area, then it is incumbent upon you to be most careful of these keys and that property.  Never let anyone else use the keys.  Always be sure the area is locked upon leaving.  It is your responsibility to keep that area and property secure.

KEEP YOUR KEYS - If you lose them or they are stolen and may be identified as yours, notify the Campus Police 4221.

Basic Safety Protocol for parking areas

What can you do?

Report all suspicious activity!

5. Do not hesitate to call 911 or Campus Police 508.854.4444 to report ANY suspicious activi­ties, persons or vehicles. “Suspicious Activity” would include:

• Persons walking up and down aisles of parking lots looking into cars or trying door handles
• Vehicles cruising parking lots at very slow speeds for extended periods while observing parked cars
• Persons making any kind of mark or placing anything ON parked vehicles
• Persons sitting in running parked cars for extended periods
• Vehicles dropping one person off while continuing to cruise the same area.
• Vehicle doors and trunks open or slightly ajar-
• Dome lights left on in vehicles
• Broken glass or evidence of a break-in

Additionally:

• Carry and pre-program your cell phone with the emergency number 508.854.4444. Carry it in your hand but always walk with a “purpose’ head up making eye contact with others.
• Carry a noise-making device (Whistle) with you at all times, and use it if you suspect you are in danger. Move to a lit area or building and raise a commotion. Call 911 or 508.854.4444 Campus Police
• Walk in groups to and from parking areas when possible as there is safety in numbers.
• Do not leave valuables in your car – this is what the criminal is looking for! If you leave valuable items visible in your car, your car is automatically a target. Thieves are targeting purses, laptops, GPS units and MP3 players, which are easily sold. Additionally, computers, purses and wallets are highly desired targets that are stolen to commit identity theft.
• If you must leave valuable items in your car while out and about, place items out of sight before reaching your destination or move them inconspicuously. Someone may be watching when you put items under a seat or throw something over them. An opportunistic thief is on the lookout for trunk-packing, and can break into your car the minute you’re out of sight. One reason SUVs and pickups are common auto-burglary targets is because they don’t have a “trunk” to hold valuables — the driver/passenger generally just “hides” their valuables “out of sight”. The thieves know this, and do check glove compartments, behind seats, and under seats. It only takes a few seconds to check all the “usual” hiding places.
• Never open a trunk, fill it full of valuables, close it, and then just walk away. If your trunk can be opened from inside your car without a key, lock this feature when you are not in your car or have it disabled.
• If possible. Leave no trace. Do not leave any “sign” that there might be valuables “out of sight” in your vehicle, such as docking stations or connector cables. Just leaving an empty docking station in plain sight, even if you’ve taken the high dollar component with you, may end up costing you hundreds of dollars to re-place a broken window because the thief wanted to check your car for “hidden” valuables.
• Very few auto break-ins are “random” — the thieves see “something” in plain sight that’s valuable, or hints of possible hidden valuables. Leave nothing in “plain sight” that might make your vehicle worth “investigating” by a thief; not even loose coins or a CD.
• Lock ALL your vehicle’s doors even if you plan to be gone for only a brief time. Many valuable items are stolen from un- locked vehicles where the owner was only going to be gone “just for a second”. It only takes seconds to steal your stuff! It’s not at all uncommon for thieves to walk down a row of parked vehicles and check vehicle doors to see if they are unlocked – believe it or not at least 30% of all vehicles parked in a garage or parking lot are unlocked! Do not leave any window open or even cracked open, including vent/wing windows and sun roofs.
• Keep the inside of your vehicle clean; even if you just keep a lot of “junk” and non-valuable materials in the vehicle – the criminal doesn’t know that and may try to break in to sift through your vehicle’s contents
• Set any alarm or anti-theft device. If you have one, use it! Many people believe that car- alarms no longer make a difference, but they can be an effective deterrent to an auto-burglar, who most often chooses the easiest target. If they have two cars to choose from, one with a visible indicator of an alarm system and one without, they will likely burglarize the one without (unless you’ve left out valuables just too good to ignore!). Locking your car and setting your alarm is just part of the solution.
• Don’t think your dark tinted windows will hide your valuables. Thieves often use flash lights to see through tint, and after-market tint is handy to keep all the broken glass in one “sheet” when they break out your window (and toss the broken window into your back seat or passenger seat to hide the evidence of the break-in from passersby).
• Do not use “hide-a-keys”. Thieves know the best places to hide those.

Watch your e-mail and bulletin Boards for safety classes offered by the Campus Police Department. Sign up for Emergency “QCC Text Alert” system through The Q.