<p>Safety is the most important issue to me after reading all the horror stories. My first year at UCF I've heard of attempted rape, robberies at knife point, car-jacking, etc... I'm not making this up either.. UCF News sends these things. I'm fortunate enough to not come face-to-face with such situations, but to prevent anything happening in the future, I want some advice on safety. I've only had one experience when I saw this kid, probably still in his teens or early twenties flashing his gun to his friend at Waffle House. I ran out of that place as fast as a lightning bulb. Definitely don't want to be apart of a crime scene.</p>
<p>The crime rates in Orlando are very high and being near UCF, criminals know that college students have valuables that they bring around with them, so we're targeted. </p>
<p>For people living in gated communities, don't think that you're safe either. While I do prefer gated communities, I've seen ones with security guys not doing their job and just letting people in without checking for any identification. Heck, I've seen one dead asleep at his post.</p>
<p>Girls, I would invest in a pepper spray. Are tazers legal in Florida? Cuz I'm about to pre-order one of those babies and carry it around with me, dead serious.</p>
<p>Anyway, what do you guys do to stay 'safe'?</p>
<p>No offense, but this seems like a VERY pessimistic post. I’ve never seen anything happen or had any problem at all. Use your own discretion of course - if you see something happening go the other way, and if you’re a girl don’t walk around bad areas in your clubbing dress at 2 AM, but this thread makes it seem like people get raped and killed on the daily. Just don’t be an idiot and you likely won’t have a problem.</p>
<p>No offense taken, however, I don’t see how it’s pessimistic at all. Safety is important to everyone and these things DO happen, whether if it’s to you or other people. Read the UCF News more. You can never be too safe and just by taking some precautions could save your life. And nowhere in my post did I state that people get raped and killed daily, buddy. But crimes such as robberies do happen pretty often around here. It’s important to know how your surroundings can be of help to you when being put in those scenarios and I’m only trying to use resources to keep myself in the safe zone.</p>
<p>Also, while it’s obvious that if you put yourself in dangerous situations, that you’ll probably be more likely to face these crimes. But who’s to say all the crimes around here are only aimed towards those students? Sometimes you just can’t help it (i.e. having a night class or studying till late hours in the library.) And believe it or not, robberies at apartment complexes do happen during the day.</p>
<p>Regardless of everything, really, one can never be too safe. Call me paranoid if you want, but it’s how it works. Just because it never happened to you doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. Just saying. But thanks for the input anyway :)</p>
<p>Hm, tazers might not be illegal in Florida (I’m positive they aren’t) but they may be illegal on campus. I think there’s a no weapon policy on campus but you could definitely just carry it all the time or leave it in your car when on campus.</p>
<p>Rape whistle. End of story. In reality however I’d go with watching where you are. I used to live in orlando and it’s much easier to just avoid sketchy locations all together.</p>
<p>I get those alerts too. I never disregard them. My friend is getting pepper spray and a tazer for where she lives, even though they have security. Where I live there isn’t any real security, and there seems to always be drunken people walking around at 3am, people banging on doors at night (or trying the handle!), and vandalism to the property. Sterling’s so luxurious-_-</p>
<p>I don’t think tazers are illegal in FL and as to having it on campus; if you had to use one on an attacker at UCF, then they’re doing something wrong, not you. <em>Anyone</em> can walk onto the UCF campus. Put your safety first.</p>
<p>The best ways to attempt to stay safe where you live are to ALWAYS lock your doors and windows. Car: Keep things people want to steal either out of your car, hidden, or in the trunk. If you’re walking around after sundown, have someone with you or at least have a pocket knife, pepper spray, tazer, frying pan, gun, something…</p>
<p>Frying pan! Haha! I love night classes but I won’t be taking them anymore. There’s ‘security’ at the place I live, but LOL, these people don’t check for any kind of identification whatsoever. They’re just there like around midnight time and the most they will do is ask if you live there or whatever and let you in. Peg. Pointe is a little better with the security thing. </p>
<p>And honestly… a rape whistle sounds the same as a regular whistle to me, LOL… But I’ll probably get it anyway.</p>
<p>Yeah Pegasus Pointe/Landing is a lot better with security, but if they recognize you some will let you pass multiple times even if you don’t live there. Honestly I wish I’d have chosen one of the two over where I am. I like being outside at night but need to cut back on that because of the safety issues. Is there a lot of sketchiness where you live?</p>
<p>No, I wouldn’t say it’s ‘sketchy’. I mean, there’s all types of people here… it’s a pretty diverse community, so to speak. I’ve had no problems regarding security, but then again, I don’t really go out that late anymore. I used to a lot during dormitory days, but now I just chill in the apartment with some friends and play the wii or something, lol. If we ever do go out late, we always go together.</p>
<p>Oh ok, that’s good… and it’s very smart to always go out together. I need to find some people to chill with; my roommates like clubbing:/ …almost daily. I prefer games and movies (and I just got a Wii too, so excited!).</p>
<p>Have heard that wasp/hornet spray is legal pretty much everywhere and quite effective. One problem with carrying ANYTHING that can be used as a weapon is that it is frequently turned on the victim, so it can seriously backfire. Please keep that in mind. Prevention is important.</p>
<p>HImom, you bring up a very good point about how your weapons can backfire… UCF offers self-defense classes, so that’s always a nice option.</p>
<p>purplestuff, yeah, most UCF (college) students likes to go clubbing, lmao. Did you hear about that one girl that died after coming back from that sorority party? It happened like a week after school was in. Kinda scary! And it’s sad cause she was only 18 and it was just her first year at UCF I just never found the appeal in alcohol. Why can’t people have fun doing other things that doesn’t involve getting drunk? It’s kinda sad…</p>
<p>And, I’m also a gamer! Well, not like a hardcore gamer, because the games I download tend to be pretty girly, LOL. And even though I suck at most games, I still play. And waste money on them :/</p>
<p>I read about that! They recently released the police report which said she had unknown medication with her, which she probably took with alcohol. Any amount of alcohol + pills = no good</p>
<p>It’s so sad… I heard the audio clip of her roommate calling the cops and trying to do CPR on her. Must be really hard on the family… to think that your daughter is safe in college when this happens only after a week in. They had a candle-light vigil for her at the reflection pond, hopefully she rests in peace.</p>
<p>Yeah, I heard about that. I was on campus when everyone heard a load of sirens going toward the campus apts and there was a news van around too. It’s very sad especially considering she was so young and just started here. I agree as21608, pills and alcohol are a bad mix. Especially if it’s a psychotropic drug, just cut hard liquor and excessive drinks out completely. I like certain alcohol but see no point in getting crazy drunk…like give me a Mike’s Hard or a beer and I’m cool. </p>
<p>I don’t see the big deal with alcohol, the way so many here do. I grew up drinking occasionally under parental supervision. By the time I came here I knew what I liked and what my limits were. Also that drinking a lot is overrated. Like just have some candy; a sugar rush is so much more fun!</p>
<p>haha, girly like The Sims? I used to think I sucked at most games until I found the ones I was good at…RPG’s! Have you played Oblivion? It’s awesome. lol I don’t want to tell you how much money I threw away on games for my Wii…</p>
<p>Haha yea, I think drinking ocassionally is fine. Some people like to get drunk everyday around here though </p>
<p>And by girly games, I meant games like maplestory, audition, gunbound (probably the only shooting game I play), etc… I’m into cutesy games, lol. I spend money on cash cards to dress up characters haha… God i sound lame playing maplestory lmao. But I’ve quit several games and only play audition now… It’s getting boring tho lol. Someone told me to download league of legends! Oh I also played runescape for a couple days then got bored haha. Idk I need to try diff games lmao.</p>
<p>Oblivion sounds really familiar, actually! I think someone told me to download it before, but I never really got around to it. </p>
<p>You know what sucks though? I have a windows 7 with a crappy graphics card so I get lag spikes like crazy when I play! Some people tried helping me solve the problem but no avail… I was told this computer was meant for working only >.></p>
<p>Unfortunately, safety is a concern. Even during previous tough times like the Great Depression, you didn’t hear about little kids being kidnapped, and stuff like that.</p>
<p>I would say to girls not to do foolish things like leave a bar at 3am with some guy you just met an hour before. Whenever you hear on TV about some girl disappearing, it always seems that she was coming home alone at 3am.</p>
<p>And to the extent possible, stay in a group.</p>
<p>And while I am not personally a gun owner and never have been, I have been considering it, because if there was some sort of hurricane or earthquake or riot, I would feel safer knowing that I was armed.</p>
<p>That being said, the chances of something happening to you personally are still pretty slim.</p>
<p>If one person was mugged on campus last week, that still means that 10,000 were not.</p>
<p>I still think owning and carrying weapons is a very bad idea for MOST people including me. Aggressors have no hesitation on turning them against anyone. Many of us would be reluctant to use them and it would be used against us. Those contemplating such things need to research the laws and be sure to be WELL TRAINED in care & use of whatever they plan to have, otherwise it is worth than useless, just providing bad guys with one more t hing to hurt YOU with.</p>
<p>Sticking with groups is always a good idea. Having at least two+ in the group remaining straight/sober at all times to keep the others safe is also a good idea. Not walking or going around at early hours in the morning is also smart–many bad things and choices happen in those hours.</p>
<p>That said, my kids both attend a U near Watts. Both have had mostly not feared for their personal safety, as have their friends. Still, there are random acts of violence which fortunately have not affected either of them to date. To my knowledge, neither of them have ever carried a weapon other than their wits & I believe their sobriety; has worked for them to avoid dangerous situations.</p>
<p>haha, I haven’t heard of any of those games, Maplestory sounds familiar though. lol I’ve been tempted to spend money on little things in games too, like the facebook games…it’s so tempting! I do it for the iphone ones though, in app purchases or whatever they’re called…</p>
<p>I have Windows 7 too and I’m not sure if this is an entertainment pc but my graphics card does the same thing. I tried playing Elder Scrolls (Morrowind on this computer) and it would lock up or crash. The Sims 2’s graphics look weird sometimes too. The computer companies just want us to pay more for upgrades lol, probably why laptops are so cheap these days:/</p>
<p>Haha, I don’t use facebook anymore. I remember there was one point when I was so addicted to it, lmao. Especially that one Cafe City game on Fb (or w/e it’s called). I’ve never spent any money on facebook games though… And I just uninstalled all of my games yesterday. I got bored so I wanna try new games, lol. Always wanted to buy the sims game!</p>
I just never found the appeal in alcohol. Why can’t people have fun doing other things that doesn’t involve getting drunk? It’s kinda sad…</p>