How to Encourage Campus Safety and Security With Promotional Items For Students

School Campus Promotional Items

College is an exciting time, full of new experiences and opportunities to meet new people. But as many educational institutions know, not all the people their students meet on campus are as trustworthy as they should be.

One in five women in college experiences sexual assault. With sexual assault being such a common occurrence, colleges must make campus safety and security a priority.

Initiatives such as safety training and self-defense classes can help to prepare students. And, there is also a range of campus promotional items that colleges can give to their students to help keep them safe.

Read on to find out how your college can help encourage student security with promotional safety products.

How to Encourage Personal Safety on Campus

College campus safety officials have a duty of care to provide their students with a safe and secure environment to live and study in.

Here are several ways that safety officials can encourage personal safety on campus:

Develop Strong Community Relationships

Students often see safety officials as the ones out to put a stop to their fun by enforcing rules and writing tickets. This can make it difficult for officials to communicate with students about important issues such as campus safety.

To overcome this, officials should focus on engaging with students through informal gatherings. These might include coffee or pizza sessions as a way to encourage attendance.

During these informal sessions, students and officials can share ideas and experiences. These kinds of open discussions can serve as a basis to create safety programs and raise awareness about reporting attacks. In turn, they can then help to strengthen community relationships as a whole.

Inclusive Training

On-campus sexual assaults are common for women across all ages, races, and ethnicities. But those who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual are more likely to experience on-campus sexual assault than heterosexual women.

As such, campus safety officials must expand their training. This should include greater comprehension of diversity issues. And, specific LGBTQ+ liaison officers can also help to create a safer environment for those most at risk.

Personal Safety Awareness Training

Sexual assault is always the responsibility of the assailant. This makes it impossible to prevent such attacks.

But, with personal safety training, colleges can raise awareness among students about how to avoid and react to unsafe situations and how to help keep others safe.

Students are at the highest risk of sexual assault in the first few months of college life. Factors such as a new and unfamiliar environment, lack of parental control, and lack of close friendships make new students more vulnerable to attacks.

One way campus security officials can help new students is to encourage them to familiarize themselves with the campus. This includes learning where emergency stations are and saving emergency numbers on their phones. If students do find themselves in an unsafe situation, this information will make it easier for them to escape or get help.

Personal safety training could also teach students how to stay safe around new people in new environments. Tactics might include always walking home with friends and meeting new people in public places. Reducing alcohol intake and protecting your drink to prevent someone from spiking it can also help.

Self-Defense Classes

Most people speculate on what they would do if confronted with an attacker, such as running away or fighting. But in reality, many people freeze in these kinds of situations.

By creating simulated attacks, self-defense classes can help prepare students for such situations. Students don’t even have to use the techniques they learn in these classes to reap the added benefits. Training like this often increases confidence and improves fitness. This then makes it more likely that students will be able to escape their attacker.

Presenting Promotional Campus Safety Items

The initiatives for improving campus security listed above also provide ideal opportunities for colleges to give students campus promotional items.

These promotional items featuring the college’s name or logo are often security devices. These devices can serve to attract help in dangerous situations or disable a potential attacker.

Personal safety items are often useful and compact, making them ideal for students to keep close at hand. And, they also serve as reminders to take their personal safety seriously.

Safety officials or instructors can present such safety products within meetings or classes. This then provides the opportunity to show students how and when to use such items.

Correct training ensures that students can use safety items in an effective way. And, it also highlights the protective value of such items, giving the students added reassurance.

Campus Promotional Items for Personal Security

By prioritizing campus security initiatives, your college can create a better campus environment where students and staff look out for each other and protect each other.

But as we are all aware, staying safe also means being prepared. Promotional safety items show that your college cares about its students and knows the importance of investing in their safety.

Here are some of the best campus security products to help prepare your students for dangerous situations as a means to keep them safe:

Security Flashlight

Flashlights aren’t only for camping and hiking trips. A bright, compact flashlight is also one of the most useful campus safety items.

Students keep irregular hours and can often find themselves coming home from a study session or a night out in the dark. By equipping them with a flashlight, your college can help them walk in safety throughout the campus at all times.

This security flashlight, which comes in blue and grey, is small and lightweight, making it ideal for students to store in their purse. But despite its small size, it packs in a lot of light to help them find their way across campus and get home safely.

Carrying a flashlight means that students won’t have to drain their phone battery if they need some extra light when navigating badly-lit areas. And, while some personal alarms have flashlights, they are only bright enough to help you find your keys in the dark.

Students can also use a flashlight in self-defense. If they shine a bright flashlight like this in someone’s eyes, they’ll be able to dazzle them for long enough to make their escape.

Pepper Spray

Pepper sprays aren’t allowed on some college campuses. But if your college does allow them, they’re one of the best campus promotional items to give away to your students.

This is because a pepper spray is a very effective non-lethal self-defense product that anyone can use, no matter their physical strength or size. For this reason, pepper sprays are the best-selling personal defense product in the US.

Pepper sprays use oleoresin capsicum from cayenne pepper. Spraying this in an attacker’s eyes is sure to stop them in their tracks. This is because the pepper forces them to close their eyes due to the effects of temporary blindness and eye pain.

Pepper spray can also cause a burning sensation in the throat and an ability to breathe or speak. And, as pepper sprays have a six-foot range, your students can protect themselves from a safe distance.

Another advantage of pepper sprays is that they are compact and often come with a key chain. This detail ensures that your students can carry their pepper spray with them everywhere on campus. Or, if you prefer, this pepper spray lipstick container makes an ideal promotional item to encourage your female students to protect themselves against potential attackers.

Safety Whistle

Freezing and being unable to say anything is a common response to a frightening attack. In such situations, a safety whistle comes in very useful.

Your students may be too scared to scream or shout when faced with an attacker. But it’s a lot easier for them to blow on a whistle as a way to attract attention or scare off their attacker.

In fact, safety whistles are much louder and can carry a lot farther than the human voice. You should encourage your students to use a safety whistle by giving out promotional versions such as this carabiner COB whistle light or this safety whistle light and explaining their benefits.

As well as being more effective than shouting or screaming, safety whistles can reach the same decibel level sound as some personal safety alarms. They’re also economical and can stand a lot of wear and tear.

And, safety whistles without lights such as this safety reflector whistle don’t need batteries. This means they’re easy to use and maintain, plus they still work as well even if they get wet. All these factors make promotional safety whistles one of the most cost-effective ways to encourage personal safety and protect your students.

Self-Defense Safety Alarm

Personal self-defense safety alarms are another great way to protect students at your college.

Many safety alarms come with key chains, meaning they are easy to attach to backpacks, purses, or keys. This ensures that your students always have their alarm on them and within reach for quick access in an emergency situation.

A great example is this promotional safety alarm key chain, which comes with a built-in LED light to help in dark or badly-lit areas. To use it, all the student needs to do is pull the pin to sound the safety alarm. The alarm reaches 100 to 110 decibels, meaning that passers-by can hear it from up to 225 feet away.

But personal safety alarms work well as offense as well as defense, as they can do more than just attract attention. An attacker on campus won’t expect your students to have a tiny siren on them.

This element of surprise means that the student can use the alarm to help them escape. Or, the possibility of someone hearing the alarm and catching them in the act will often be enough to scare the attacker away.

Stun Gun

Some college campuses do not allow stun guns. But if your college does allow them, they are very effective self-defense weapons for your students.

Our available models include a traditional rectangular style stun gun and a flashlight stun gun. We also stock a lipstick case disguised stun gun for discreet protection. All these would make excellent promotional items to give away to students as part of personal safety awareness training or self-defense classes.

A stun gun delivers a strong electric shock that causes disorientation and a loss of muscle control. As such, if your students used a stun gun on their attacker, there is no doubt that they would stop them in their tracks.

But, as weapons, your students would need training on how to use them in a safe and responsible manner. Also, something to bear in mind is that you need to get up close to an attacker to use a stun gun.

That said, most victims of sexual assault know the person who assaults them. As such, a stun gun could be an excellent way for female students to neutralize a situation with a friend or acquaintance that has escalated to unwanted sexual interest, coercion, or violence.

Your Guide to Promoting Campus Safety and Security

More and more colleges are becoming aware of how crucial it is to focus on campus safety and security, especially for their female students.

Safety awareness initiatives are an important part of that. But promotional safety items are also an ideal way to protect and prepare your students should they find themselves in a dangerous situation on campus.

For more information on ordering promotional items for your campus, feel free to contact us today with any questions or queries.

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