Public Safety Escorts

Escorts to and from on-campus locations will be given to students, faculty, staff, and visitors for safety concerns, after dark, and for medical reasons. The intent of this service is to provide members of the College community with safe transportation who are either physically unable to traverse the campus or are concerned for their safety.  These escorts are only provided to and from locations on Berea College’s Campus and Public Safety Officers do not give escorts to or from off-campus locations.

Safety Escorts

Public Safety will provide escorts for up to three people after dark or for serious concerns for one’s safety or imminent harm.  These escorts may be provided using carts or patrol vehicles, or Public Safety Officer may provide a walking escort.  Because escorts are provided for safety reasons only, groups of three or more people requesting an escort may be denied.

Medical Escorts

Public Safety provides escorts as a service to the community and aids those with physical ailments in traversing the campus, when possible.  Public Safety will provide escorts for those with short term injuries for a limited time.  Individuals with long-term needs (e.g. physical disabilities, broken ankles, torn ACL, etc) will need to make arrangements for transportation or parking privileges through Disability Services or Labor and Student Life.  Specific needs for transportation (inability to get into patrol vehicles or tall carts) should be communicated with Public Safety Dispatch at the time of escort request.  Requests for transportation should be made at the time the transportation is needed, and cannot be scheduled ahead of time.  Public Safety cannot guarantee that an officer will be immediately available due to emergency response, so those with time sensitive appointments should plan accordingly.

General Information

Public Safety staff responds to all calls for escorts as quickly as possible.  However, due to staffing and service demands, there may be delays in response due high-priority emergency response.  Those requesting escorts should be at the pick-up location at the time of call.  The Public Safety Officer responding to the call may choose to wait on the caller, however they are not required to do so. It is the responsibility of the caller to be present when the Public Safety Officer arrives.  Public Safety reserves the right to deny escorts at their discretion due to callers not being present at officer arrival, disruptive behavior, or abuse of the service.   When the service for escorts is abused or fraudulently obtained, it could put the campus at risk by taking Public Safety away from regular patrols and other important safety and security matters.