Over the past two years, numerous changes have been made to UVM’s safety system by the Division of Safety and Compliance. 

“Our focus for the last two years has been to reimagine safety and security in the realm of three main areas: teams, tools and technology,” said Michael Schirling, UVM’s chief safety and compliance officer.

These changes in safety precautions have taken place amidst a series of dangerous incidents in the Burlington area in the past few months, including a fatal shooting at Red Square, an attempted murder on Greene Street and groups of youth involved in several assaults.

Students have noticed a change in how they feel in Burlington, and take safety into consideration when selecting off-campus housing, said sophomore Jaqui French.  

“I grew up here. I was born at UVM, so I’ve been coming to Burlington for a really long time,” she said. “And I think that my sense of safety is extremely different than it was when I was younger.”

The Burlington violent crime rate is still below the national level, and has minimally risen since 2019. The rate of property crime, however, has risen but remains under the national average according to FBI data published in 2022.

“My freshman year, maybe we were just oblivious,” said senior and SGA treasurer Matt Sorensen. “But people didn’t worry about there being shootings randomly or stabbings or [groups of] people attacking you if you walked alone.”

Schirling also discussed changes in crime rates and safety in his message, “Is Burlington Safe?,” which was published to the Division of Safety and Compliance website March 15. 

“There’s never been a time in my lifetime where it’s been more important to be vigilant when you go downtown,” said Schirling, in a Sept. 10 SGA meeting dedicated to student safety. “Especially past dark, especially if you’re out alone: the city has changed.”

Burlington City council hosted a meeting to address public safety concerns in the area Sept. 9.

“Random violent crime is still very, very rare, but it’s not completely unheard of,” said Schirling, “The chances that someone is going to try to steal your belongings are much, much higher.”

Sorensen was also present at Red Square the day the shooting occurred, he said.

“The gunshots went off, and then all the lights came on, the music stopped … we all got outside and everyone was figuring out what was happening, and [the victim] was laying there,” he said. “It’s something you read about on the news, and say, like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t happen here,’ but it does. And it did.”

Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak sent out a community safety message Sept. 8, which was also shared with off-campus students through the Office of Student and Community Relations.

UVM did not reach out to students or community members affected by the Red Square shooting to offer support, Sorensen said.

Senior Emma lives on the same street where an attempted murder occurred Sept. 5 but was not home during the incident, she said.

“We haven’t heard shit, not even a CatAlert [when the incident occurred] telling us that something happened, which is crazy, because I would have walked to my house and seen it all police-taped off,” Emma said. “If I didn’t have people who stayed up to date, I wouldn’t have known.”

When asked about CatAlerts and their use at the Sept. 10 SGA meeting, Schirling said that CatAlerts are only sent out when a dangerous incident could have an effect on the surrounding students.

“The CatAlerts go to 22,000 people … whether you’re on campus or not,” Schirling said. “So there’s a balancing act of whether we want to wake everybody up and tell [them] something happened when we really don’t have a particular safety message for you. We don’t need you to alter your behavior.”

UVM has phased out the Blue Light system, replacing it with the CatSafe app, according to their website. 

“I feel like blue lights are helpful if your phone dies or something, or if there’s a sense of urgency,” French said. “I think a Blue Light is so easy.”

The CATSafe app allows for direct communication from students to police services as well as other features, according to the Division of Safety and Compliance. 

“We’ve now got almost 10,400 people using that app,” Schirling said. “The primary things are, of course, getting quick access to safety information, and the ability to communicate with a push of a button to police services, or … the ability to text police services and open a text window and chat session with them using the app.”

“Whenever you ask UVM about safety, they’re gonna give you a 10-minute TED Talk about the CatSafe app,” said Sorensen, “We have almost 13,000 college students here. They’re going to be out at bars. They’re going to be out late at night. How can we, as an institution, protect people and keep them safe?”

Schirling also referenced the SafeWalk feature, which allows for students to share their location with a friend or family member at any time. 

The Division of Safety and Compliance is hosting the second annual safety week from Sept. 16-20, where there will be activities, symposiums and tabling from many different organizations, said Kevin Hytten, training coordinator for the division.

“The neighborhoods are full of students,” Emma said. “[The University] has to care about what the neighborhoods look like even though they’re off-campus.”