Campus Safety

No community’s security plan can be effective unless everyone in the community contributes to making it work. Safety and security are both personal and shared responsibilities. Only by accepting this responsibility can members of the community maintain a safe and secure environment.

This security section of the Handbook is provided to you as a part of LaGrange College’s commitment to safety and security on campus and satisfies all the requirements of the Federal Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990. It is filled with information about a variety of security services and programs, which are available to you as a member of the College community. We hope that you will become familiar with this information and find the programs useful.

The College has an established campus-wide Safety Committee that is charged with the assessment and improvement of safe practices and safe environments across the College. Your participation on this Committee is welcomed if you have an interest in this area. If you should ever encounter an unsafe condition on campus, please alert your RA, Area Manager, Director of Housing, or Securitas.

Campus Safety Services

The Vice President for Student Engagement has primary responsibility for the safety and security of LaGrange College. The Office’s mission is to create and maintain a safe and secure environment. This includes protecting lives and securing property and preserving peace and order. There are two main branches of services: security operation and safety education.

Campus Safety Operations

Campus Safety officers are on duty 24 hours a day.  Officers check in at the residence halls and routinely patrol the buildings and property of the entire campus.

Campus Safety officers respond to all reports of crime, fire, medical and other emergencies and call in and coordinate with the City of LaGrange Fire and Police Departments. They complete incident reports, interview witnesses, gather facts, and conduct preliminary investigations. Officers lock and unlock buildings, admit authorized persons into locked areas, and monitor fire and burglary alarm systems. Security officers can be reached by calling 706-880-8911 and are located in Smith Hall, Room 119.

Reporting Emergencies or Crimes on Campus

 Prompt Reporting

If you see something, say something. It is important that you promptly report any suspicious activity to Campus Safety as soon as possible to ensure that the situation gets investigated immediately.

The LaGrange Police Department will respond to any immediate emergency needs which include any violent crimes or other incidents beyond the capabilities of the Campus Safety Officers. Campus Safety Officers work closely with the LaGrange Police Officers who spend a significant amount of time on our campus to be well prepared for any major incidents.

All emergency situations involving: 1) a crime in progress, 2) a medical emergency, 3) a fire, should be immediately reported to 9-1-1. All phones, on campus may be used to dial 9-1-1 at no charge. While on campus, persons should be aware dialing 9-1-1 or 9- 9-11 will work.

When calling for either emergency or non-emergency service, be prepared to do the following: 1) Clearly identify yourself, 2) State your location, 3) State the nature of your call. All incidents should be reported to the Housing Staff and/or Student Engagement.

On-campus Crime Statistics

The following statistics, provided in compliance with the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, are for your information. If you have any questions, contact Student Engagement at 706-880-8269.

Safety Escort

A Safety Escort will make sure you arrive at your destination safely. Give us a call and we can walk with you or give you a ride. This service is available 24/7. Campus Safety Office 706-880-8911.

Fire – Emergency

If you discover a fire

• Activate the nearest pull station and alert others to exit the building
• Call 911.
• If it is a small fire (no larger than a wastebasket) and you have called for help, you can attempt to put it out. If the fire is too large or you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the proper use of a fire extinguisher, simply close the door and evacuate.

If you hear a building alarm

• When an alarm sounds on your floor or area, begin immediate evacuation following your plan (see Building Evacuation Plan). Close doors behind you.
• Evacuate via the nearest stairwell or level exit. Do not block exit doors or attempt to prop them open. Doors must remain closed to keep smoke out and keep them safe for evacuation and fire personnel. Leaving doors open makes the stairwells dangerous and unusable.
• Go to your designated Evacuation Assembly Point (EAP). Immediately report to your Resident Advisor so that you can be accounted for.

If there is no safe exit

• Put a towel or other material under the door to prevent smoke from entering the room.
• If a door handle is hot to the touch, do not open the door.
• If you are trapped by smoke, stay low, cover your mouth with a wet cloth, stay near a window, open it but do not break it. Hang something out the window to let fire personnel know you are there. Call 911 if possible.

Emergency Notifications

Regroup is the alert and notification system serving LaGrange College students, faculty and staff. The system will warn you of situations on or near campus that pose immediate threats to your safety and will provide instructions for what to do in case of major emergencies. Emergency warnings will be sent to your official campus address by default. Log into the system to update your delivery method to text message at http://regroup.com

Lost & Found

Did you lose something? Your item might be turned in to us.  Please contact security@36837a.com to find a lost item.

Items prohibited from campus and College property:

Pistols, Revolvers, Rifles, Shotguns

Any weapon designed or intended to propel a missile of any kind

• Air soft
• Paintball
• BB or pellet guns
• Potato guns
• Other such homemade devices

Use, possession, or display of firearms, replicas or toy weapons, ammunition, explosives, weapons, or any other incendiary, explosive, or potentially destructive device, including fireworks.

Additional items that could constitute a violation of this policy include:

• Knife having a blade of two or more inches
• Straight-edge razor or razor blade
• spring stick, bat, club, or other bludgeon-type weapon
• Nun chuck, nun chachka, or shuriken
• Throwing star or oriental dart
• Stun gun or taser.

Acknowledging that a student may want to have a tool to help increase personal safety, mace (or other personal protective spray) is permitted to be carried and used ONLY in a self-defense manner. Any uses for mace outside of a self-defense tool is prohibited

Building Safety and Security

Policy and Procedures

The LaGrange College building access policy and procedures are designed to increase the safety of all faculty, staff, students and guests who work, study and visit in our buildings and facilities.  The policy is also intended to increase the physical security of the College buildings and properties.  This policy identifies the normal building access hours (Attachment I), defines rules intended to promote the safety and security of all occupants and outlines the process to obtain authorization for access to buildings after normal access hours.

1. BUILDING ACCESS RULES

• Follow all posted building rules restricting use or access
• Duplicating or distributing keys or card keys without authorization is a violation of the Building Access Policy.  Violations will be recorded in Security and reported to Administration for proper disciplinary action.
• Assisting unauthorized access to buildings or propping open exterior doors, against building security policies, is a violation of the Building Access Policy
• Intentionally initiating a false fire alarm is a violation of Georgia law and punishable by fine and/or jail sentence
• Tampering, misuse, abuse, or destruction of building equipment, fire and emergency equipment or other College property is a serious offense and may result in disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion from campus
• Disrupting classroom, administrative or other College sponsored, or approved activities may result in disciplinary action
• Smoking in buildings is prohibited by College policy
• Riding bicycles, skateboards, roller blades, mopeds, and skates are prohibited in buildings or on walkways where hazards could be created by their use. The storage of bicycles, mopeds, electric carts should be stored only in designated areas to ensure all public spaces, hallways, corridors or stairwells are unobstructed

1. AFTER HOURS BUILDING ACCESS – Pass Program

Because of the nature of the College environment, it is often necessary for faculty, staff and students to be in campus buildings after normal access hours for either special projects or ongoing work.  To accommodate various schedules, the Campus Safety Office has established a procedure to assist users in having access to buildings after normal access hours, but no later than 1:00 a.m., while continuing to maintain the security of the facilities. 

Security will provide afterhours passes to students with proper authorization.  To obtain a pass, the student will complete the After-Hours Building Access form located on Panther Net.

All authorization forms are directed to Campus Safety.  The student will pick-up the afterhours pass in the Campus Safety Office, Smith Hall, M-F, between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:30 pm.

All safety officers, while conducting building checks or while inside a building after it has closed, will check to ensure that all building occupants are authorized to be inside the building.  Authorization is indicated by a valid afterhours pass.  Occupants without an afterhours pass will be safely escorted out of the building to a parked vehicle or back to a residence hall.

All persons inside a building that is not open for general use must have current authorization.  This authorization is in one of two forms.

1. All staff and faculty members, with current staff or faculty identification, are authorized to be inside buildings after hours. All staff and faculty members are required to carry and present College identification upon demand by a Security Officer.
2. All students, including graduate students and non-College employees must have in their possession a current College identification card and afterhours pass for the building in which they are working. All students, including graduate students are required to carry and present College identification upon demand by a Safety Officer

If a student or non-College employee is in a building after hours and is not able to provide proper authorization as described in Item 2, the person is to be escorted out of the building.  Failure to cooperate may result in a charge of criminal trespass.

Authorized individuals should not escort guests into buildings without notifying Campus Safety and securing an afterhours pass for guests.

For faculty or staff, the officer may use discretion in determining if in fact the person has authorization to be in the building.  If the individual can provide picture identification (drivers license, etc.), they have an office with their name, and/or are listed in the faculty staff directory, the officer may allow them to remain, but are to remind them to carry their College identification at all times.

An afterhours pass allows a student to remain inside a building after it closes.  Because security personnel are not posted at each building, the afterhours pass program is not intended to guarantee timely entrance into a building after it has been closed.  Safety officers, if available, may grant access to a closed building after normal access hours to a student with a valid afterhours pass

Violation of any terms of this policy may result in fines, loss of access or expulsion.