Projects and initiatives

Roehampton student safety project

In 2003 a student safety and fear of crime survey was distributed to 700 Roehampton University Students after a number of local and national reports and publications highlighted concerns about student safety and fear of crime. The results of the survey were presented in a report and a monitoring group was set up to address and deal with the issues that were highlighted. An aim of this project has been to direct the focus more towards young people as victims of crime rather than perpetrators.

The following is a summary of the report's findings. A copy of the full report is available on request at communitysafety@wandsworth.gov.uk:

• Two thirds of the students that responded were female.
• 63% of respondents were worried about physical attack.
• 56% were worried about rape.
• 67% of those who were not worried about rape were male. 90% of those who were not at all worried about rape were male.
• 56% were worried about robbery or theft.
• 44% were worried about burglary.
• 97% owned a mobile phone and 52% worried about having it stolen yet 67% lacked any kind of mobile phone security or awareness of such.
• 30% of students owned a personal alarm. 95% of these were female.
• Of the 53% who knew where to acquire a personal alarm 76% were female.
• 63% worried about personal safety (81% of these were female).
• 38% felt unsafe walking to, from and around the University (88% of these were female).
• 18% of respondents felt unsafe on the street.
• 10% of the respondents felt unsafe in and around local train and tube stations.
• 5% of respondents felt unsafe on campus.
• 87% had not security marked their household belongings.
• 56% had not insured their household belongings.
• 59% either did not worry about the security of their accommodation or had not thought about it.
• 44% did not know whether their accommodation was up to health and safety standards and fire checked.
• 54% did not worry about the conditions of their accommodation as far as safety goes.
• 15% had been a victim of crime since starting University.
• 21% of those who had been a victim had been so of theft of property other than their mobile phone. 15% had been a victim of mobile phone theft - 6% of total survey.
• 46% of victims of crime had not reported it to the police. Of those who had had their mobile phone stolen 78% had not reported it to the police.
• 79% did not know how to contact Victim Support Services.
• 45% did not know they could use the CRIMESTOPPERS number to report a crime anonymously.
• 11% suggested campus security should be increased and/or improved in some way.
• 5% suggested there should be more free bus services to and from the campus.
• 5% suggested more/clearer information should be made available to increase student awareness of crime and crime prevention.
• 4% suggested that the lighting on campus should be improved/increased and 7% feel unsafe due to poor lighting.