A TALK ON SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR OFF-CAMPUS STUDENTS

The Student Representative Council (SRC) had taken the initiative to address the recent crimes that have been experienced by students especially on those who are living off-campus. There were reports of robberies, stolen goods, house break-ins, and harassments that kept on disrupting the peace in USIM campus. The SRC realized that a lot of these students are unaware of the current risks they are living in and so we attempted to heighten that awareness by holding this talk for them. It was held on October 10^th 2012 at 8 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.; in DKF 1.1, Faculty of Leadership and Management and was chaired by Muhammad Safwan bin Hamdy. We had a talk by two prominent figures whose area of expertise is in security.

             The event began with du’a and a short speech by our president, Mohamad Razif Mohamad Fuad. He basically greeted the audience with a woeful note, mentioning the main reason we were there that night and the reality faced by the students nowadays. He also noted the number of criminal incidences among students that are growing at an alarming rate.

The first lecture is by USIM Head of Security, Mr. Rozaimi Kamarudin. In his talk, he covered mostly on the current situation of security; specifically within USIM Nilai campus grounds and residential colleges. Basically, he emphasized on the number of security personnel in USIM, or lack thereof, in which poses a problem since the current number of security personnel/guards does not reach the actual required number. This is no news for those who have taken concern before, but for some who are in the hall it was quite surprising to see the statistics on-screen. 

Apart from that, according to his speech there were a lot of factors that contributed to the recent robberies; one of which that is most crucial is personal negligence. He could not have pressed on more clearly on the fact that students now are getting more complacent in keeping their belongings safely and most of the time only wrongly expected the goodwill of their friends or other people. The perfect examples are situations like hiding the house keys in typical place (under mats, flower pots, in shoes), placing their valuables in plain sight and forgetting to lock their doors. Subsequently, these examples create perfect opportunities for petty criminals to act instinctively; and with students as their victims, they did not come home light either. Cash, laptops, iPads, cell phones, and hard drives; a typical collection for students that came to be a criminal’s dream come true. It is also important for students to take part in the Neighbourhood’s Watch especially for those in Anggerik. In addition, Mr. Rozaimi reminded us that the security hotline is available at all times and students should immediately report any unusual incidences that need investigating.

In the second part of the talk, we had a high ranking officer from the Nilai police department, Sergeant Kamaluddin bin Ali to brief on us about the acts of law under many sections that can be convicted on criminals who are caught in the act. As being the part of the group who handled and responded to the recent robberies in NIlai, he explained to us on the real situation and how they cope with the prevalence of the crimes. Then, as a point of deterrence he explained to us the simple everyday steps on how not to be opportunistic victims of crime. He ended his lecture with an added bonus, giving us a strong reminder not to do crime by showing us the orange jumpsuit we would have to wear if we were to put into jail.

In a nutshell, it is very important for each student to keep vigilant on their own safety. We are our best personal bodyguards. That night there was a lot of discussion and explanation regarding the safety and security around the area of Nilai. If students just take a few minutes to consider and act on the simple precautions, then Insya-Allah the large number of crimes that is happening now in our campus can be reduced.

“A negligent one is a foolish one.”

Prepared by:

HANISAH BINTI HASSAN,

Vice President II,

Student Representative Council,

Islamic Science University of Malaysia.

                

* As an outcome, a new organization; Out-Campus Students Secretariat (OCSS) has been established to look after the security and welfare of off-campus students. Click here for more information regarding OCSS.