Student safety on campus may be slashed – right along with the University Police budget.

Next week, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson will meet with officials to discuss future funding for the department.

“Last year we were like everybody else. We received a 6 percent cut, which ended up equating to seven positions,” Williamson said.

With a full staff of only 78 sworn officers working shifts all day every day, Williamson said the strain has been felt.

In the past, University Police met with victims to offer reassurances after certain crimes – such as minor thefts – and to answer questions, Williams said. With the future of the budget in question until a meeting next Thursday, he said services like those may be cut.

“I’d hate to get to that point,” he said. “There’s some real disadvantages that come to not having that interaction.”

Ashley Strickland, a senior from Alpharetta, recently found a window of her Jeep shattered in an East Campus Parking Deck. She said after calling the police, an officer arrived and recorded the necessary information.

Several days later, a detective called, asked her questions and said he was working on her case.

Strickland said the contact with the officers was reassuring and hoped budget cuts wouldn’t prevent future victims from getting the same reassurance.

“That would definitely be a big loss,” she said. “I really hope that doesn’t go away, but I understand that in this economy, things are constantly changing to accommodate those differences.”

Strickland said since the incident she’s been more concerned about safety on campus.

“Walking back from the parking deck, I get nervous – even in East Campus, which I thought was a safe area,” she said. “Apparently it’s not as safe as I imagined.”

Williamson said there are steps students could take to prevent car break-ins.

“Conceal everything in cars. I don’t care if it’s change in the console or a $200 pair of sunglasses,” he said. “You can increase or decrease your personal risk with certain habits.”

One of the risk-increasing habits Williamson mentioned was partying too hard with drugs and alcohol.

“Armed robbery people look for more intoxicated individuals,” he said. “People out there looking to do bad things are looking for people who are under the influence because first of all, they’re not going to resist. They’re not going to remember anything.”

Williamson advised students using substances illegally not to hesitate to call if they see something suspicious or are victimized. Callers do not have to meet with the police to report tips, Williamson said, adding, “if you’ve been a victim of a crime, we’re more worried about the bigger crime.”

Tips from students and Athens residents have been key in preventing crime, and Williamson said he hopes to help end the Athens-Clarke County crime emergency with help from the community.

“Out in the county right now, flat screen TVs and laptops are huge [for burglaries],” he said, urging students to call if they hear of a place to buy those items cheap.

“It’s not being traded for dope on the corner of the street, not this many TVs and laptops. Somebody’s buying their stuff,” he said. “We might be able to shut down all the burglaries immediately if we can shut down that fencing outlet.”

John Newton, an emergency operations coordinator for the Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness, said his office has been trying to raise community awareness for a whole slew of dangerous situations.

OSEP – the office responsible for the UGAlert program – offers classes in areas such as terrorism prevention, responding to active shooters and natural disaster response.

“The problem with emergencies in general is people aren’t concerned about them until they’re an emergency,” Newton said. “We are trying to create a culture where people are a little more cognizant of preparing for an emergency.”

Williamson said the most effective action police take to prepare for and prevent crime and dangerous situations on campus is street patrols.

“We find that the uniformed officer is the most visible deterrent we have,” he said. “The folks that are going to commit those thefts against our students, faculty and staff are looking for us just like we’re looking for them.”

Williamson said when gas prices shot up last year, the department backed off its driving patrols.

“We started to see an increase in car break-ins and stuff, so we said, ‘Let’s patrol. Let’s find that money from other areas,’ and [the crime] seemed to go back down,” he said.

Above all, Williamson urged students to flag down a police car or call 911 if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation.

“I tell folks to go with their gut. If you meet somebody and you feel awkward about it, then create some distance,” he said. “We hear a lot of times from people on campus, ‘I didn’t get a good feeling about that guy, but I just didn’t want to bother y’all.’ That’s OK, just call us. Let us check it out.”