<p>I've heard and read so many stories about how unsafe it is on campus and how there is constant paranoia about getting robbed in Atlanta. Is it true that Tech is not a safe place?</p>
<p>The Tech campus is safe. Outside the campus, not so much (especially when you’re drunk at 3 AM).</p>
<p>My sis goes to Tech and my neighbor goes to Ga State. My neighbor always jokes with my sister about Tech kids getting robbed. The thing is most Tech kids are from middle class suburbia, and they don’t realize that you can’t walk around in the middle of the night like they did back home. They just don’t have any street smarts, so often what happens is guys end up walking back alone from a party/club/etc and get robbed before crossing into campus lines. Just be alert, walk in groups, and if you’re drunk walk home naked so no one will bother you lol</p>
<p>You can go here and see actual crime and arrest statistics: <a href=“http://police.gatech.edu/documents/brochure.pdf[/url]”>http://police.gatech.edu/documents/brochure.pdf</a> Other schools are required to post these statistics as well, so feel free to compare crime/student from campus to campus.</p>
<p>One thing you’ll see is that the crime that does occur on campus is burglary (stealing bikes and stealing things when you leave them sitting around to go to the bathroom), and car theft (usually breaking a window to take things). Those are both preventable as long as you don’t leave a laptop sitting around unlocked while in the bathroom and don’t leave Ray-Bans in plain view in your car overnight. Pretty common sense stuff that you see anywhere. Violent crime (i.e. actually getting mugged) is pretty rare on campus and everyone knows about it when it happens. </p>
<p>Where you do run into problems is walking off campus. GT isn’t in a bad part of Atlanta, but there are some bad areas near campus. If you walk around these areas at night alone, you might get mugged. But this happens anywhere. I pulled the University of Alabama crime report, since there’s a misconception that a college town makes you safer: three times as many robberies and twice as many burglaries.</p>
<p>All that said, Tech has seen an uptick in aggravated crime on campus in the last semester. Since November, a student was raped by a 40 year old man on campus, one person was mugged on campus at gun point, and two students were strong arm mugged on campus.</p>
<p>
</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Why did THOSE incidents happen?</p>
<p>Mostly because those criminals were quite bold. However, they did increase the number of officers patrolling the campus shortly after these attacks. Also, I must say I have never felt in any danger on campus, but then again I don’t think I’ve ever been out and about past 11 or 12.</p>
<p>Not to make excuses, but the rape occurred before a night football game. So it’s very likely that alcohol was involved. As far as the robberies, one was only a robbery by accident. Someone returned to her car while someone was inside breaking in. He ran away without doing anything to her. So it’s considered robbery and not burglary because she came into contact with the thief.</p>
<p>The other two just happen. Criminals know that students walking around Tech have laptops and smart phones on them. They also know that students do not have weapons (it’s a felony to have a gun on campus). So there’s a big reward for robbing a student and little risk because the student is unarmed. GTPD do a very good job patrolling campus and deterring crime, but with 20,000 students, someone is going to get robbed every once and a while.</p>
<p>I’m a pretty small guy so I’d be a very easy target. ._.</p>
<p>I think you’ll be safe if you travel in groups.</p>
<p>Haha…you think.</p>
<p>don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine. a lot of these incidents happen at like 4am, alone. just don’t walk alone at night. AND a lot of these incidents aren’t verified, so you don’t know if the person reporting it is lying or not</p>
<p>Criminals pick easy targets - not so much based on their size but based on their proximity to other people and the police.</p>
<p>Don’t make yourself an easy target and you will dramatically reduce your chances of being the victim of a random violent crime.</p>
<p>Stay in groups at night and stay out of the sketchy parts of inner city Atlanta. Pay attention to your surroundings. This really applies anywhere. Even if GT’s campus is more dangerous than others, that doesn’t mean that it is dangerous.</p>
<p>I don’t really think it’s more dangerous than others. Look at the Clery reports from other schools. I already referenced Alabama. I’m going to grab UGA:</p>
<p>In 2010:
GT burglaries: on campus = 26, off-campus=16
UGA burglaries: on campus = 44, off-campus = 38</p>
<p>GT vehicle thefts: 12
UGA vehicle thefts: 26</p>
<p>GT assaults: 2
UGA assaults: 38</p>
<p>GT Weapons violations: 0
UGA weapons violations: 7</p>
<p>GT is in Atlanta, and the perception is that Atlanta is more dangerous than rural college towns, but both have crime. One thing about GT is that campus used to be in a really terrible part of town (before the midtown revival of the early 2000’s) so the GT PD is really beefed up compared to other schools. They have a visible and known presence on campus, patrol frequently, and they’re an actual police force (not campus security or a branch of the Atlanta police) which gives them more authority over campus.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that you’re complete safe on campus - there’s crime everywhere and no police force is perfect. It’s just that you’re not really at more risk at GT vs. any other school, even those perceived to be in isolated college towns.</p>