By: Valarie Varrasso | Staff Writer
I have always had questions about the safety and security at Salve. Going to different college campuses and noticing how different their security was from our campus, I wanted to find out more information on the security here at Salve. I got a chance to interview the Director of Safety and Security, Michael Caruolo, about Salve’s security and how he believes that the campus is considered to be a safe area of the city.
The biggest takeaway that I learned during the interview was the level of security Salve actually has. When visiting other campuses, I noticed that you need to use your ID for practically everything (to get into each building, to go to the bathroom, etcetera), and that just isn’t the case here on campus. When talking to Caruolo, he mentioned that each officer is well trained, and that the officers maintain a regular presence here on campus. The university also has five officers on shift for each duty and a minimum of two officers on the roads at all times. He also brought up the fact that Salve has a fantastic relationship with the Newport Police Department. When the students and staff are on break, Salve opens up the buildings to let local, state, and federal partners to utilize the buildings so they get comfortable in these surroundings in case of an emergency. He did stress about the fact that Salve Regina is in a city, and there is city crime that occurs but there is not much of it in Newport.
Over the course of the past few years, the university has done a significant amount to make the campus safer for students; one of them being implementing the Rave Guardian app. The Rave Guardian app has a lot of different features including the safety timer and the option to call 9-1-1 right on the app in case of an emergency. The Rave app works even if you are off campus, so you are protected whether you are on campus or not. Another safety feature that the university has is that the campus has 150 surveillance cameras, and Caruolo wants to add more cameras as time goes on. Caruolo believes that with the enhancement of technology and the many security cameras here on campus, this only adds to the high level of security.
When going more in-depth with security, Caruolo discussed the fact that he believes that there will eventually be a law where all universities will be mandated to arm their officers. He said that with all of the school shootings going on, the officers will be required to carry guns. Caruolo also stressed how this decision wouldn’t be one that he makes on his own and would be the decision of high administration at the university.
Caruolo has been in public safety for about 30 years here in Newport. He says that he is “quite comfortable and confident that this is a safe environment for our students”. Although he thinks that our campus is safe, he still wants students to take precautions. He says to not walk alone at night and always make sure people know where you are. Caruolo hopes to add more security features to our campus in the near future to make sure that Salve has the absolute maximum amount of security.
