Security and safety are the utmost priority when it comes to a college campus and Bucks leaves no room for fault when it comes to ensuring the safety of all students, faculty, and other visitors around the college. As the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions begin to ease back and more students are returning to the classroom bringing in a possible new threat to the safety of the campus. The Centurion was able to catch up with the head of security Dennis McCauley who answered all our questions regarding how he and his team have been maintaining this level of healthy well-being on campus during these turbulent times.
Dennis is a veteran at Bucks and has been the Director of Security and Safety at the college since Aug. 9th, 2009. As director of the security team, he is the lead man responsible for seeing out the Security and Safety times mission and making sure the campus is in good hands at all times. When asked about what he enjoyed most about his role at bucks he said, “I take pride in making sure that everyone on campus feels safe and comfortable here. A safe campus really helps foster the college’s mission of providing education and personal growth to our students.”
Bucks has been very vigilant with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and has been very on the ball when it comes to making sure proper measures are being put in place to protect everyone at all times. Mask restrictions have been lifted recently and when asking Dennis about how students can still maintain personal safety on campus he said the following, “The absolute best thing that students can do to protect themselves from COVID-19 is to become vaccinated. Mask wearing is now optional at the College but those who feel more comfortable by wearing one will certainly be supported in that choice.”
Lost items can be a major issue and while theft is a relatively low issue at Bucks simply misplacing an item and forgetting where it is can be a huge issue. To keep items safe Dennis mentioned students should do their best to keep all valuable items on their person and to seek out Security & Safety in Cottage 4 (215-968-8911) and Student Life in the Rollins Center when attempting to find said lost items.
The Bucks campus security team is always on patrol of the campus helping to ensure safety at all corners of the school. Patrols happen 24/7 so no matter what time of day you are on campus there will always be security ready to assist in case of emergency. In case you are not on campus, there is a campus alert text system used by the college to address anyone signed up immediately. Dennis recommends that if you have not already signed up you should do so! Just text Bucks to 79516 to get put on the alert system list.
The security team also keeps tabs on any suspicion of criminal activity and issues alerts to all college staff and students regarding such. Dennis gave the following parting advice, “Lately, for example, email scams seem to pop up on a regular basis. If you get an offer via email for a part-time job that seems almost too good to be true, it’s a scam – even if it seems to come from a Bucks email address. Don’t respond and let Security & Safety know about it.”