Anuj Baral, GSU President

When I was elected as your Students’ Union President last summer I promised to help improve safety across campus. I’ve been working with the University Estates Management team over the past year on this campaign, and am pleased to update you on the progress we’ve made.  

In order to ensure the safety of every student across our campuses, I’ve worked closely with Head of Estates and Facilities to assess and address vulnerable areas, and implement measures that contribute to a secure and thriving campus environment. Below is a list of measures we’ve taken.

• Night walk: The Head of Estates and Facilities organised night walks around the Avery Hill, Greenwich and Medway campuses. I joined the walks, with a variety of Heads of the University, to see the various blackspots and to discuss solutions to improve them.
• Comprehensive security assessment: A review has been undertaken of all risk assessments and action assessment notices of the University’s security team. This was to ensure the best possible protection and outcomes for students, staff, and visitors. The security assessment also included a review of our riskier locations, in high footfall areas such as the University Libraries. This review will help to meet changing security threats, and to support the security team to tackle and deter damaging behaviour.   
• Body-worn cameras for security personnel: The University have established an increased requirement for body-worn cameras within our premises. Body-worn cameras are a proven risk mitigation technique that has, and will continue, to reduce and deter bad behaviour. 
• Improved radio communication protocols and processes: The Estates and Facilities Directorate are in the process of reviewing and improving all campus communications for the security team, including incident response processes. They hope to implement a technological step change with the introduction of an improved radio system.
• CCTV system evaluation and enhancement: The Estates and Facilities Directorate are reviewing the current CCTV system against industry best practice. This will ensure a continued evolution of premise and user protection within the University.
• Access control system: The Estates and Facilities Directorate are reviewing the access control systems across the University. This includes increasing specialist access, restrictions and personalised access to residences and academic buildings. 
• Collaboration with law enforcement: The University is engaging in proactive discussions with law enforcement and exploring the possibility of having their presence on campus for incident responses.

As your Students’ Union, we are here to ensure you become your best at Greenwich. We will continue to work to ensure you feel safe, secure and happy whilst on campus, and we’ll continue to explore and implement measures to achieve this.

Your input and feedback are crucial as we collectively work towards a safer and more secure University environment. Please do get in touch with us at greenwichsu@greenwich.ac.uk to share any feedback.