Students concerned with the safety and distance of their late-night walks will be encouraged to contact the dispatch center, which will send SafeWalkers to meet and escort the student home. The scope of our coverage will include both On- and Off-grounds housing areas, with attention paid to areas further from Central Grounds.

This is a paid position at $9.00 per hour, and shifts will be five (5) hours per night either from 8:00pm-1:00am or 9:00pm-2:00am, Sunday through Thursday nights.

Purpose:
In light of recent tragedies and incidents on and around Grounds, student safety has become a major concern in our community. Though students have access to some late-night transportation options, the reliability and efficiency of these options are lacking. SafeWalk is designed to fix the current transportation options. By offering a service to the student body that is free, easy and expansive, students will be able to seek out an alternative to the dangerous habit of walking alone at night. The premise of SafeWalk builds off other late-night transportation initiatives at UVa such as SafeRide and Free Ride, while paying heavier attention to cost and time efficiency. Unlike SafeRide students would be escorted home on foot rather than by vehicle. This will not only make this program less expensive to implement, it will also target those students who truly feel unsafe. SafeWalk will offer employment opportunities for students, and a chance to strengthen ties and collaboration with the University Police and safety personnel.

About:
UVa SafeWalk is modeled off the success of other college-level programs, such as at UNC and Colorado State. These programs operate in conjunction with local police, who train and screen student “walkers”. Thanks to the UVa Parents Committee, $7,000 worth of funding has been secured. This equates to roughly a 14 week trial according to the budget (See attached budget). These walkers would be paid competitive rates of $9.00 an hour and work a set amount of nights per week in teams of two. Students concerned with the safety and distance of their night walks are encouraged to contact a dispatch center, which will send walkers to meet the student. Walkers will assure the student is escorted to a final destination within an identified radius. At UVa, the radius is intended to include both On- and Off-grounds housing, with attention paid to areas considerably further from Central Grounds such as Wertland, 14th St., and JPA. The UVa SafeRide program will operate as normal, supplemented by SafeWalk, allowing for more students to be served in a timely manner. Because cost is a non-issue, SafeWalk will reach all students regardless of ability to pay. Upon success of this pilot program, a sustainable funding source will be established with annual renewability.

Operational Procedures:

1. A student calls the SafeWalk number or SafeRide number and requests an escort home
2. The dispatcher records the name, student id, location, destination, and time of the call, and possible number to be reached at.
3. An escort team of two people will then bike or walk to the caller.
4. Upon contact with the caller the escort team will radio the dispatcher saying they have made contact.
5. The escort team will then escort the caller to the desired destination.
6. Upon arrival at the final destination the escort team will radio the dispatch saying they have arrived at the final destination.
7. They will then return to base for further callers.

Thank you to the U.Va. Parents Committee for their generous support.