Student employees at the Department of Public Safety are busy protecting fellow members of the ISU community this semester. The Safety Escort Service – which serves students, faculty, staff and visitors – provides a safe transition from location to location on campus, seven days a week.

Brian Macomber, student officer at DPS, said the amount of people who use the Safety Escort service each night varies each night, sometimes with as many as 25 or 30. “We get more calls during bad weather or on weekends,” he said.

Abuses of the escort service are “bound to happen” from time to time, Macomber said, so some restrictions have been enforced.

“We don’t make stops while escorting someone,” he said. “We will transport them from the pick-up location to their destination so we have time to serve others who might be trying to call as well.”

Transporting intoxicated people or groups of more than three are also prohibited to avoid treating the escort program like a taxi service, said Macomber, senior in management information systems.

Escorting is done on foot in nice weather, by golf cart in the summer and is assisted by the Help Van during the busy winter months.

“The Help Van provides roadside assistance but also helps us handle the safety escort service,” Macomber said.

Students are an important part of the Safety Escort Service as well as other DPS programs, he said.

“Student officers employed by DPS provide the Safety Escort Service while locking buildings and doing other general security,” Macomber said.

Steve Hasstedt, public safety lieutenant at DPS, said the campus atmosphere benefits from having services such as Safety Escort available.

“It helps students feel safer knowing they have a ride if they need it,” Hasstedt said. “It puts their minds at ease knowing it’s out there.”

Transportation to and from the parking lots and residence halls are common requests, Hasstedt said.

The university established the service several years ago while looking at new and different ways to serve students.

“Other universities had escort services and we borrowed the idea from them, changing it to suit the Iowa State atmosphere,” Hasstedt said.

Bertha Lukawski, parking and transportation supervisor at DPS, said the escort service is most often used for accompanying students home from buildings at night.

The escort service is available between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. every night except for official university closings, Luwaski said.

“This service is perfect for someone who is a little bit uneasy about walking somewhere,” she said.