Join a day in the life of TMU’s Community Safety and Security teams
TMU’s Community Safety and Security teams are tasked with a variety of responsibilities that strengthen the resilience of our neighbourhood and ensure campus safety. Campus security team members Jay Patel and Ron Dominique chat safety with fourth-year student Claire Hrabovsky. Photo credit: Harry Choi
At Toronto Metropolitan University, the safety and well-being of the community is a top priority. That’s why TMU's Community Safety and Security team provides round-the-clock coverage of campus, and engages in community-centric initiatives aimed at enhancing the resilience of the surrounding neighbourhood. Recently, TorontoMet Today followed TMU’s Community Safety and Security team to see how they’re working to improve safety on our campus every day.
WalkSafe with TMU Security
Claire Hrabovsky is a fourth-year English student and a TMU student ambassador. She writes for the Future Student Blog and acts as a (virtual) student guide to all things TMU.
Hrabovsky commutes to campus two days a week by taking the subway and GO train, so she uses the WalkSafe program to make her way to Dundas Subway Station as it begins to get dark.
“Students should feel they can call us and activate this resource any time to get them from point A to point B, safely,” says Jay Patel, shift supervisor at GardaWorld Security.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whenever students, staff, and even campus visitors need it, the WalkSafe program provides uniformed security to safely escort them across campus, to the subway, or to nearby parking lots.
“When your lab runs late, or you’re working on projects late into the evening like the fashion or architecture students, we can provide a safe walk whether it be to a residence or the TTC,” says Ron Dominique, GardaWorld Security.
On call: Community Safety and Security supervisors Ron Dominique, Dwayne Dawkins and Jay Patel join TMU student Claire Hrabovsky for a WalkSafe.
Dwayne Dawkins, Ron Dominique, Jay Patel on the TMU campus.
“It's comforting to know there's support, especially for first-year students new to a big city,” says Hrabovsky. “Knowing security personnel are only a phone call away when you're feeling nervous really makes you feel safe.”
Stay safe and stroll with confidence! The WalkSafe service is available to all TMU community members. When you're ready, call or email.
Planning ahead for safe campus events
Safety by choice, not by chance. Community Safety and Security ensures event safety through pre-event assessments. TMSU event organizer Samantha Yim works with campus security, including Marco Hernandez, to balance fun with safety by anticipating potential issues. Photo credit: Daniella Erwood
Every school year, hundreds of exciting campus events are organized by staff, faculty and students.
To keep the good vibes going and ensure everyone has a blast while staying safe, Community Safety and Security works to support risk assessment for gatherings on campus to make sure everyone involved—whether you’re organizing or attending—has a great experience.
A recent haunted house event brought hundreds of students to the quad for a frighteningly good time.
In this case, third vendor liability is an important aspect of the event assessment, says Marco Hernandez, risk assessment specialist and self-defense program coordinator. By working to mitigate and minimize potential instances of risk and raise awareness around the event organizer’s responsibilities, the university helps to ensure that all service providers follow health and safety protocols before students take part.
Keeping even your scariest campus experiences safe, TMU security makes sure this haunted event is all thrills, with no real danger posed to participants. Photo credit: Daniella Erwood
“For interactive events like this haunted maze that is meant to scare and get your heart rate up, we advised the organizers to hire an additional on-site medical response team,” says Hernandez. “TMU offers medical assistance but having an on-site option optimizes safety so that in an emergency, critical response time is minimized.”
Your Community Safety and Security team has you covered in the planning stages of your next event through assessments that help ensure safe social gatherings.
“We sit down with the organizers and really hash out the details to make sure that they can put on a safe and fun event without incident,” says Hernandez, who chatted with TMSU event organizer Samantha Yim about the interactive event that drew many enthusiastic students.
Collaborating with community partners on campus safety
“As a university, we’re located at one of the busiest intersections in Canada,” said Saeed Zolfaghari, vice-president, administration and operations (VPAO). “We recognize we have a role to play in supporting the wellbeing of our broader community and responding to the complex needs on our campus. The TMU Community Safety and Security team helps support this by partnering.”
Community Safety and Security’s Strategic Outreach and Response Team (SORT) works with community partners like the Downtown Yonge BIA (DYBIA), Toronto Police Service and Toronto Public Health on safety planning initiatives and problem-solving urban challenges.
The evolution of the partnered outreach program has been strong and the help we provide makes it rewarding work.
On this day, members of the SORT team, along with a representative of a downtown community agency, are conducting an outreach walk around the campus and peripheral area to see if anyone requires assistance.
“We typically target areas of campus that are more active in terms of calls for service,” says Holli Boucher-Chu, crime prevention and community engagement specialist, SORT. “We’ll focus on any demographic that could be receptive to services like housing support, food support or harm reduction through community partners, putting them in contact with referral agencies in the area.”
Crime Prevention and Community Engagement Specialists Holli Boucher-Chu, Randolph Aguas and Karim Brahimi are part of the SORT team, helping to build neighbourhood resiliency.
“Our community partners wear blue and are easily identified by folks in the area,” says Boucher-Chu. “We also started wearing blue a few years ago and are now being recognized as people who can help. That’s enabled us to build rapport in the community with those that we do outreach with.”
Safety first
Community Safety and Security takes many approaches on our bustling downtown campus, each one intentional.
TMU adopts comprehensive, multidisciplinary and collaborative approaches to safety that take into consideration the diverse, complex and evolving needs of the urban community.
While creating a safe campus is a shared responsibility, with everyone playing a role, our campus security team offers a number of resources that we can each access to help us plan for our own safety while on campus.
