Letter to the Editor: A welcome from Campus Safety

Dear Students,

I want to first convey a warm welcome to all of our first year students of the Class of 2022 and transfer students, and to welcome back from summer break all of the returning members of our student body!

You will find that McDaniel College is a beautiful and safe setting to live, work, study, and recreate, but no place is completely insulated and immune from crime, especially crimes of opportunity. So while the dedicated men and women of the Department of Campus Safety work around the clock to ensure the safety of our students and community members, our success is largely dependent upon your help to make us aware of criminal activity, and suspicious persons and circumstances. So I ask of you: if you see something, say something! Please help us by immediately calling the Department of Campus Safety at 410-857-2202, or by stopping by our office located at 152 Pennsylvania Ave. (at the corner of Monroe Street, directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Garden Apartments).

Also, since the vast majority of crimes are crimes of opportunities, you can be the first line of defense by utilizing some simple, commonsense practices of shutting and locking your room door when away, not leaving valuables unattended in public areas, walking with others at night in well-lit areas, and not engaging in risky behavior such as overindulgence of alcohol, which increases the risk of both victimization and the perpetration of crime and policy violations.

Our campus police officers are professionals that take pride in maintaining a high level of trust and rapport with our students. We are here to serve and assist you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so please get to know us, and take some time to learn more about the many services and educational programming that our department offers.

I look forward to getting to meet our new students, and I wish you all the very best for a safe, successful, and enjoyable campus life experience as we begin this new school year!

Best regards,
James K. Hamrick
Chief of Police/Director
Department of Campus Safety