Personal Safety

General Guidelines

• Be aware of your vulnerability; follow the measures of self-protection and property protection this booklet outlines.
• Be alert for suspicious or criminal activity and for conditions that may represent hazards to the community.
• Get involved by becoming more security conscious and by reporting all incidents of suspicious or criminal activity, no matter how insignificant they may appear, immediately to Public Safety.
• Remember that unreported crimes cannot be solved. This allows the perpetrators to commit additional, and possibly more serious, crimes.

Walking or Running Safety

• Avoid traveling alone at night. Instead, travel in pairs. At Middlebury call for MiddRides.
• Avoid dark, vacant, or deserted areas; use well-lit, regularly traveled pathways. Avoid short cuts and keep away from shrubbery, bushes, alleyways, or other areas where an assailant could lurk.
• Runners, walkers, or joggers should face traffic. If you’re out after dark, use extra precautions: stay in pairs, travel well-lit areas, and wear reflective clothing or tape.
• Dress in clothes and shoes that don’t hamper your movement.
• Dress sensibly. Don’t flaunt expensive jewelry or carry large amounts of cash.
• Always let someone know where you’re going and when you’ll return.
• Be alert and aware of your surroundings at all times. Walk purposefully and confidently. Keep moving.
• Don’t hitchhike or accept rides from casual acquaintances.
• When walking to your residence or vehicle, keep your keys in hand.
• When a private vehicle or taxi drops you off at your residence, ask the driver to wait until you get inside.
• If you’re threatened by an approaching vehicle, run the opposite direction. The vehicle will have to turn around to follow you.
• If you think you’re being followed or feel threatened: increase your pace and move away from the threat; join any group of people nearby; cross the street, and, if necessary, keep crossing back and forth. If someone pursues you, run to a business, residence, or well-lit area. Call for help, scream, or raise a commotion. Enlist the aid of a passerby. Find a phone and dial 911 or pull a fire alarm. Do anything that will attract attention or summon assistance. If you’re walking alone and someone passes you, check to make sure that person is continuing to walk in the other direction.
• If you’re confronted by an assailant, yell and struggle. Keep your head and assess the situation.

Residence Halls and Private Residences

• Lock your room door and windows when you go to sleep or when you leave, even if only briefly; take your keys with you.
• Immediately report defective locks on your windows and doors to Facilities Services or Public Safety.
• Don’t put your name and address on key rings. Don’t attach your keys to your ID card.
• Don’t keep your residence and your vehicle keys on the same ring.
• If you lose your residence keys, the locks will be changed. On-campus residents should immediately notify the Department of Public Safety. Faculty with college rentals should notify Facilities Services for lock changes.
• Don’t study in poorly lit, secluded areas.
• Require visitors to identify themselves before you open your door. Request official identification from all repair or service personnel.
• Get to know your neighbors so you can help one another.
• If you discover someone has entered your room, DON’T GO IN. Go to a neighbor and call Public Safety (for College housing) or the town police (for private residences). If you’re already inside, DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING. You may disturb evidence important to a police investigation.
• If you’re awakened by an intruder, don’t try to apprehend them. They may be armed or may easily become armed with something in your room. Attempt to get out of the room if it’s possible.
• If you see a suspicious person or vehicle, either on campus or in your neighborhood, IMMEDIATELY contact Public Safety or the town police. Try to get the license plate number, state, and description of the vehicle, but don’t chase the car to do so.
• Don’t prop open doors to residence halls or other College buildings.
• People outside the College community are prohibited from soliciting in residence halls. If you see an outside solicitor in the dorms, immediately report this to Public Safety.
• Don’t yell or attempt to detain peeping toms, who may panic and react unpredictably. If the offender runs away, and you can safely observe this person, watch to see if this person gets into a car, goes to another dorm, etc. Also observe the person’s physical bearing. Then immediately report the incident by calling x5911.
• Hang up on obscene, harassing, or annoying phone calls. Don’t respond to harassing text messages, nor try to find out who the caller is even if you think it’s a friend playing a joke. Keep the message or text and then report its contents to Public Safety. This will be useful to the Public Safety officer or the police, if there is a police report.

Use of Athletic Facilities

• Avoid using the athletic facilities alone, especially after dark or during off hours.
• Use the buddy system. Work out with a friend, and go to and from the gym together.
• Confine your running and jogging to the daylight hours and to well-traveled areas. If jogging on the roads, wear bright colored clothes.
• Avoid showering alone in the locker room. Or shower back at your residence.
• Avoid bringing cash, wallets, watches, or other valuables to the athletic facilities. Don’t leave valuables unattended or in coat rack areas.
• Keep your locker locked whenever unattended. This includes those times you leave to shower, visit the trainer, the equipment room, etc. Most thefts at the athletic facilities stem from unlocked lockers or property left unsecured in the locker-room area.

In the women’s locker room:

• If there’s another woman in the locker room, ask her to wait for you, so you’ll not be showering alone. If you’re with a male companion, ask him to wait for you outside the locker room.
• Immediately report all incidents of voyeurism to Public Safety.
• If you encounter a male intruder:
• Call loudly for help. Your call for assistance should carry into the hallway.
• Keep out of the intruder’s way, and don’t attempt to prevent him from leaving.
• Try to exit the locker room quickly.
• Observe the intruder so you can later describe him.
• Immediately notify Public Safety by using an emergency phone to dial 911.