SEPS provides safe campus travel

Spend a late night at the library or the student union and you're bound to have seen the safety escort patrols. In yellow polos nearly as bright as the lights their carts flash, these students serve as a grown-up version of the buddy system providing safety in numbers.

For students making the trek home from a friend's dorm or from the library to Garage D, Safety Escort Patrol Services, SEPS, serves as a security blanket and often a quick ride.

Five nights a week, Sunday to Thursday, there are five to six safety escort patrols roaming campus from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. who will provide students with either a walking escort or a lift in one of three battery-powered carts to any destination on campus within about four minutes of their call.

However, SEPS does not work like the UCF shuttles. Its services are limited to the confines of the campus and it will not bring students to their apartments off Alafaya Trail or University Boulevard. They will bring riders as close to their destination as they possibly can; dropping off students looking to go to Pegasus Landing at the corner of campus right across from the apartment complex.

SEPS will never deny a caller an escort no matter the party number or distance.

"We never decline a call, even if it's a short distance," Robert Konazewski, a senior biology major and SEPS supervisor said. "When it is short that's when you know those are the people who want the service the most. One time I had a lady call for an escort to the parking garage outside the building she was in, but if something were to happen it's more likely to occur in a parking garage."

The free service, offered through the UCF Police Department, is provided for security reasons. The majority of their riders, lone females, use it for that purpose.

"Nine out of ten of our calls are from females who are alone," Konazewski said. "We hardly ever get calls from males by themselves."

Occasionally, SEPS is called to act more as a taxi service than a safety precaution from students wishing to use it for the free ride.

"I called SEPS because it was a far walk," Carla Francesca Miani, a freshman biology major said. "If I was by myself I might have called them for safety."

The weather also has an impact on SEPS business as they receive more calls for escorts when it's raining or cold out.

"What people don't realize is that the carts are open on the sides," Konazewski said. "If it's raining you're still going to get wet. When it's cold out, like 35 or 40 degrees out, we walk instead of taking the carts because these carts get a nice breeze when they're moving at 25 miles per hour and you turn purple. The cold also zaps the battery."

Most students call SEPS expecting to be driven to their destination but if a party is larger than three or the battery to a cart has diminished, walking escorts are provided as the alternative, much too some students annoyance.

"Most of the complaints we get are from students who want the cart and not a walking escort but we are a safety escort service not a car service," Konazewski said.

Each of the three carts will drive an average of 35 miles a night, according to Konazewski. Even on nights when calls lag that average remains constant as SEPS acts as further eyes and ears on campus; patrolling parking lots and offering rides to students they see walking alone.

Most nights 85 percent of the students they escort called in while the other 15 percent were picked up as the cart or walking escort passed, according to Konazewski.

Trust can be placed in these safety escorts as each must undergo a background check, stress test, drug test and an ethics course among other requirements before being hired.

"Being a safety escort is the best on-campus job," Robert Brown, a senior psychology major and safety escort patrol, said.

SEPS does make an effort to go the extra mile and really practice the safety and help they preach. They will drive around the parking lot with a student to locate their car rather than drop them off at the entrance of the garage, they check to make sure the person gets safely in their car before leaving, and they refuse to move an inch if every passenger's seatbelt isn't buckled.

"One time this old woman had me help her find her dog," Konazewski said. "She was out by Greek Row and she looked real upset. I thought she'd lost her job or something but she'd just lost her dog. So I got out of the cart and chased this black dog around for 20 minutes till I caught it."

SEPS can be contacted at (407)823-2424. If it is after 1 a.m. or the weekend students can contact the UCF PD at (407)823-5555 and an officer will be dispatched to escort them if available.