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Athens, OU Leaders Identify Safety Issues By Bus
< < Back toOhio University and Athens community leaders are taking a closer look at campus and city safety issues from an interesting viewpoint.
Members of the Joint Police Services Advisory Council took a bus tour of the city Thursday night to identify potential problem areas.
The goal was to better protect students and residents.
Some of the areas that were looked at include Elliott Street, Mill Street, Stimson Avenue and Columbia Avenue.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle says lighting in the city is an issue, but other factors contribute to stopping crime.
"Certainly lighting is important for safety, but if somebody asks me,' does lighting stop crime?' It's not 100 percent successful in stopping crime. If that were the case, we could light the city up to look like daylight. It certainly helps, but there are a lot more factors that go into crime opportunity," said Pyle.
In addition to lighting, dangerous cross walks and high speed zones were also dicussed.
Paula Horan Moseley, city service safety director, says she hopes to improve safety measures after the tour.
"We'll take the information that we receive, suggestions for improvement and see what we can do and what needs funded and present things to City Council. We have the city council president, who is going to be on the bus tonight, in case we need additional legislation, and then just keep going forward. We view this as the first of a number of these," said Moseley.
The Joint Police Services Advisory Council was established earlier this year to bring together city and university forces to address town-gown issues.