What college students need to know about campus safety

By Chief John Rindfleisch
CLINTON FD
It’s getting close to back to school time and the first group back will be the college students. Being on a college campus is fun but it’s easy to gain a false sense of security and feeling of safety when surrounded by your peers.
After all, they’re just honest students like you, right? Wrong.It’s important to acknowledge and remember that you don’t always know who you can trust, even when you’re in the college campus bubble.
While the threat of danger may not always be your first assumption, it’s important to be prepared should a situation ever present itself.Additionally, there are easy ways to prevent yourself from becoming more vulnerable than necessary or putting yourself into potentially harmful situations.While we certainly hope that these situations won’t arise, it’s always best to be prepared for any given situation, just in case.Whether you’re going to college for the first time or are returning for another year, it’s important to review and remember top safety tips to ensure you’re taking the right precautions.
The following college safety tips can help you avoid dangerous situations or help you should you find yourself in a risky situation.Don’t allow technology to make you unaware of your surroundings
Everyone with headphones, a smartphone and an MP3 player knows – the minute you’re plugged in, you barely exist anymore! You stare at your phone, zoned out; not knowing what is going on around you.
This, in essence, is exactly what you should be avoiding.When you start to find yourself becoming unaware of what’s going on around you is the time you need to consider turning the music down, putting your phone away and opening your eyes to what’s happening.
The key to getting out of a potentially dangerous situation is to

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