Safety Escort offers late-night rides, helps protect students

A white 2004 Ford Freestar pulls up to the curb as a young man in a dark jacket checks the time on his cell phone and climbs in the back. IU student Rohit Thakwani has just been picked by the IU Safety Escort. \nThe IU Safety Escort is a service, funded primarily by campus parking tickets, that offers IU students and faculty a free and safe alternative to walking home alone at night. Thakwani said he uses the Safety Escort service two to three times a week as a safe way to get home when he finds himself studying late. \n“Usually when you call cabs, they’re never on time,” Thakwani said, “but Safety Escort gives you a time that they’ll be there.” \nDuring the fall and winter months, Safety Escort takes its first call early in the evening, said IU Safety Escort Director Ben Blohm.\n“We usually get the first call a little after 7 o’clock, if not right at 7, because people are waiting for us to open,” he said.\nWhen someone calls for a ride, the dispatcher asks for the person’s student ID number, current location and destination. Because Safety Escort is a campus service, either the drop-off or pick-up location must be on campus and the rider must be an IU student or faculty member.\n“If we’re taking people out to the bars, it’s longer that the people who are alone at night have to wait,” Blohm said. \nWhile employees try to stick to the rules, they understand that there might be a time when students forget their IDs. The drivers are most interested in getting students home safely, said Jessica Richardson, IU Safety Escort associate director. \n“It would be better not to verify that they’re a student than to refuse to take someone who was,” she said.\nPeople don’t just call safety escort because they’re scared to walk home from studying at night, Blohm said. They also call because it’s cold or they want to visit a friend on campus.\nAbout half of Safety Escort’s riders are men and half are women, according to the Web site. About 50 percent of the pick-ups come from academic buildings and 60 percent of the riders go off campus, according to Safety Escort data. On a weekday, the service receives about 65 calls for a safe ride.\n“Most attacks occur right around midnight, which is when we get most of our calls,” Blohm said. He added that he thinks the service makes campus a safer place. \nAfter riders give the dispatcher their ID number, the dispatcher gives an estimated pick-up time. The average wait is about 14 minutes. When the van arrives, will wait for five minutes after the prearranged pick-up time, but if the rider doesn’t show, he or she have to go on to next pick up. \nSafety Escort takes its last call of the night 15 minutes before the service closes, Blohm said. The service is available until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight Friday and Saturday, according to an IUSA Safety Escort Web site. \n“We run later than all the buses, but you have to remember we’re students too,” he said. “We also have classes and we also need sleep.”