Beaver Nation Migration

OSU Public Safety works hard to maintain a safe campus, but theft does happen both on-campus and in the Corvallis community.  There are several things you can do to protect your valuable possessions.

Bikes and various electronic devises (laptops, tablets, printers, etc.) can be register with the Department of Public Safety. Registering these items puts them in a law enforcement computer system and therefore recovered items can be identified and returned to their rightful owner. This means you’ll not only have a better change at recovering stolen items, but a thief will be less likely to target your items. You can fill out and turn in a Bike Registration form at Cascade Hall 200 free of charge. Stop tags for small electronics can be purchases through the Office of Public Safety for a fee of $12/tag. More information is available here. In addition to registering these items so simple tips can help decrease the change of theft even more. Consider buying a cheap bike that is less tempting for someone to steal; buy a U-lock and make sure to properly secure your front tire and frame to bike locks; and make an effort to check on your bike regularly (leaving it for weeks on end at the same location is often a recipe for disaster). If you are studying alone do not leave your electronics, or your text books at the table when you’re leaving for a couple of minutes. Please make sure someone is watching your valuables!

Another OSU program to assist you is Operation ID. The form provided on this page helps you document and protect valuable items such as computers, stereos, bicycles, calculators, and more. In order to protect your items fill out the form on the Operation ID homepage and save your serial numbers so if things do get stolen you have a better chance of recovering them. In addition to keeping the serial numbers you would want to have owner engraved identification on the equipment. By having an owner engraved identification on your equipment, if it does get stolen you can get your item entered in the state/national Law Enforcement computer system and can be identified anywhere in the US. This means you’ll have a larger chance of getting your item back. Engraving equipment can be checked out in residence halls and at the Public Safety office at Cascade Hall.

OSU is consistently ranked one of the safest campuses in the country with Corvallis also being highly ranked in terms safety among similarly sized cities. However, college students are often seen as easy targets for those looking to commit crimes. Being proactive and making smart, informed decisions like the 10 mentioned below can help you protect yourself from being a target.

1.) Don’t leave books, laptops, calculators, and other valuable items laying around the library, study lounges,open dorm rooms or classrooms. These things are easy for people to steal, can be sold quickly and are very hard to trace back to their rightful owners.

2.) Lock doors and windows to your residence hall, apartment, or house on a daily basis. Find a safe place or a friend to keep a spare key in case you lock yourself out.

3.) If you bring a car to campus, remove valuable items from it and leave nothing valuable in clear sight. Check your car every few days to make sure it is still in the condition you left it.

4.) Log off all public computers and consider logging off of your private computer in between uses as well. You don’t want to be paying for another person’s printing charges or having someone else sending messages from your account- so take the extra time to log on and off every time.

5.) If you have to walk alone around or near campus at night, consider using Safe Ride, a free service to all OSU students and staff

6.) Program OSU’s Public Safety number into your phone for easy and quick access: 541.737.3010

7.) Use the buddy system when going out to parties and other social events. Leave with the people you came with and never leave a friend behind.

8.) Know what you are consuming at parties and other social events. Never take a drink from someone you don’t know or leave your beverage unattended.

9.) Keep all documents with personal information (credit cards numbers, student identification numbers, social security numbers, immunization records) in a safe location. If you do decide to get rid of these things, shred them first.

10.) Sign up to receive text/email alerts for OSU’s Campus Alert System. These alerts include campus closures, electrical failures in buildings, suspicious activity and traffic accidents on campus.

Did you know your name and some basic information (major, ONID username, etc.) about you is considering public “directory information” and is therefore searchable on the OSU website?  Type your name in the OSU Directory and see what others can know about you.  If you want to change, modify or what is listed in the directory you will need to log on to your MyOSU page, on the left side you will see an option for “OSU Directory Preferences.”  From there you will be able to modify what is viewed.   If you wish to seek complete Confidentiality you will need to stop by the Registrar’s Office (Kerr 102) and complete the appropriate form.  Also in that same space you will see the option to “Update Emergency Contacts” please take a moment in fill this in.  This is only used in cases of severe emergencies.

SafeRide is a service dedicated to assault prevention, to OSU students, Faculty and Staff. One of the most important services we offer is free transportation to and from campus for all OSU students.

Hours of Operation

• Fall Term: 7:00PM – 1:00AM
• Winter Term: 6:00PM – 1:00AM
• Spring Term: 7:00PM – 1:00AM

Policies:

• SafeRide does not drop off or pick up riders from bars, nor does SafeRide take students to parties; we do not service commercial locations.
• SafeRide provides rides to groups of “three” or less. We believe that groups in more than three are practicing great skills to prevent assault by traveling in groups of four or more.
• SafeRide will not wait more than five minutes past the given wait time.  Our drivers are on a tight schedule; extensive waits will cause problems with our schedule.

Read all the policies here.

OSU Alert is the name of Oregon State University’s campus-wide emergency notification system.  This system allows public safety officials to create emergency alerts that contain a recorded voice message, an email message, and a text message and send them to the current database of contact information for all employees and students. In crisis situations, the system will try all means of contacting each person in the database, and uses sophisticated means to verify contact so that we know we have reached everyone we could.

In order to receive these messages you will need to opt in and identify the methods in which you want to be notified (voice message, email and/or text message).  You may also enter additional numbers or emails such as parents, family or partners that might be interested in received emergency information.