A Winona State University Student Senate committee is pursuing the implementation of a new online page, Silent Witness, in an effort to fight campus crime.
Unlike the current online security report page on the university’s
website, Silent Witness would allow students to anonymously report crimes they see on campus.
The idea of the program was first mentioned briefly by senior
Brandon Nagel at a Senate meeting at the end of October 2007.
Since then, Education Sen. Terri Burke and the senate’s Diversity Awareness committee have been working on implementing
the program.
Burke and the committee have talked to several security representatives including those from Minnesota State University,
Mankato and Southwest Minnesota State University, both of which have given positive feedback about their campus’ Silent Witness programs.
In the early planning stages, Burke said there were questions by the school administration about liability issues surrounding the program such as reporting names or the possible problem of students creating fictitious crimes.
In response to these concerns, campus director of security Don Walski has agreed to take on the sole responsibility of answering the online crime reports using his own discretion.
He would be the only member of campus security who would have access and control over the reported names.
Walski said he will pursue each complaint he receives on the website, though he does not anticipate a rush of emails.
The new crime report page adopts the format currently used on Mankato’s school website. Students may report crimes such as vandalism and assault or report fraud such as forgery or theft of state property.
The report also asks students to describe the incident in as much known detail as possible, such as when and where the incident occurred.
Walski said that his ability to address a complaint depends
mainly on the details of the report.
“We can only respond to the thoroughness of the information they give us,” Walski said.
In conjunction with the Silent Witness website, Walski said a telephone tip line may be made available to students who want to leave an anonymous message of complaint.
After final approval by the Student Senate committee, Walski said he will work with the informational technology services department and can have Silent Witness available soon thereafter.
The approval process has been delayed due to the interim Student Senate president
Emily Feehan’s recent decision to fire all Senate committee chairs.
This decision has caused the Silent Witness program to come to a standstill, Burke said, who is the former chair of the Diversity Awareness committee.
Burke said that this project is important in the effort to make students feel safer about the campus and that these new outlets will help reach the most students.
“Every student has the right to feel safe on campus and if Silent Witness helps fulfill that- it’s worth it,” said Burke. “Even if it doesn’t necessarily help a student, the possibility that it could and that it’s there helps.”
Contact Rachel at RDSmith5697@winona.edu