To the Temple community, 

With the fall semester underway, I wanted to update you regarding our campus safety initiatives. This week, Jennifer Griffin joined the university as its first-ever vice president for public safety. Her decorated record of public service speaks for itself, and her commitment to evidence-based, progressive policing tactics will serve her well as she becomes acclimated to this new role.

First and foremost, please know that your personal safety is of the utmost importance to the university. It is our No. 1 priority and it is imperative that every student feels safe here. It’s equally important that faculty and staff members feel comfortable when they work on our campuses each day.

As you might have noticed, we have spent much of the summer reviewing and strengthening our commitment to campus safety. We invite you to view this brochure that details the safety services and resources available to students, faculty and staff at Temple.  

This month, we relaunched the Flight shuttle service as a fixed-route service. This was specifically done with the safety of our community in mind, as Campus Safety Services will know exactly when and where passengers are picked up and dropped off. This will allow our police officers to focus their patrols in and around these designated locations. We encourage everyone to download the Transloc app, which tracks the shuttle routes in real time.

We also recently expanded our Walking Escort Program to cover the entirety of the Main Campus patrol zone. Patrol boundaries are Susquehanna Avenue on the north to Jefferson Street on the south, except for 13th to Broad Street, where the southern boundary is Girard Avenue. The western border is 18th Street and the patrol area extends east to 9th Street. To request an escort, call 8-WALK (8-9255) from a campus phone or call 215-777-9255 from your mobile phone.

Over the next several months, we will be sharing additional updates regarding our campus safety efforts. We are eager for former Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and his public safety organization, 21CP Solutions, to complete their campus safety audit this winter. We also will launch an off-campus residence resources and safety program later this academic year.

We wish everyone a great start to the fall semester. We remain deeply committed to doing our part to provide a safe campus environment for our students, faculty, staff and North Philadelphia neighbors. 

Sincerely,

Ken Kaiser
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer