Walking alone at night on a barren, lonely campus can be a frightening, even dangerous experience.

In order to protect students the Department of Public Safety and Government of the Student Body provide a safety escort service for students and faculty.

Student officers will escort students to and from all ISU properties. Safety escorts are also provided to and from fraternity and sorority houses.

“We hope students take advantage of this service because our officers will get them where they want to go safely,” Isra Harahap, DPS officer said.

The officers are ISU students that have been specially trained by the DPS. They use golf carts which operate and function as a safety service, not as a taxi service.

“Sometimes students misunderstand our mission which is to provide safety and call us for the sole purpose of wanting transportation,” Harahap said.

Harahap said the service receives at least two calls for assistance a night and is available 365 days a year, including holidays.

There are some rules and regulations regarding the service.

Students will not be escorted if they are intoxicated or in need of a medical escort. “We don’t have the training to serve as medical escorts, and our vehicle service doesn’t function as the drunk bus,” he said.

Harahap said if he had a situation where a student was intoxicated and needed an escort because they were too afraid to walk alone, he would assess the situation upon arrival and possibly make an exception.

“I would see if the student was in danger to his or her health. If the student needed medical assistance an officer would be dispatched, if not, I would escort them home,” he said.

Jennifer Hodgen, a junior, said she used the service because she feared walking alone from her residence hall to the stadium parking lot one night. She called the escort service number and the officer asked her to give him a password.

“I waited outside my residence hall and this guy came up to me and immediately spoke the password that I gave earlier,” Hodgen said.

“I felt safer being escorted by him and am glad the service was made available,” she said.

Safety escorts are available from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The escort service which is available for both men and women can be contacted by dialing 294-4444, Monday through Sunday.