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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past six months, you've probably been told at least 600 times to use campus walk and ride escort services.

And rightfully so. The escort services are a fantastic safeguard against Philadelphia street crime. You are undeniably safer when walking with a professional security officer than when walking by yourself.

But what happens when they let us down? Yes, the vast majority of security officers on campus are courteous, professional and reliable. But a small minority seem to have forgotten that their job revolves around safety, not socializing.

Shockingly, female students have begun to admit that, when trying to make conversation, some guards have crossed the line, making inappropriate and sexually suggestive comments. Some have even gone so far as to persistently ask them for personal information, such as their phone number and sexual orientation.

College senior Jill Ivey uses the escort service often, but she has had experiences with security guards who took friendly conversation a step too far.

Ivey told him, "I'm going to meet up with some girlfriends."

"Girlfriends or girlfriends?" the guard asked.

When she responded, "A bunch of female friends," the guard replied, "So, you're straight?"

This behavior is clearly unacceptable. The sole responsibility of the guards is to safely escort students around campus and protect them against possible harm. How can we expect students to utilize the escort services if they are going to be put in such an uncomfortable situation?

"I'm a lot safer with them than without them," Ivey said. "And that's unfortunate because you shouldn't have somebody who makes you feel safe also making you incredibly uncomfortable."

After hearing stories of guards' inappropriate conduct, I was outraged at the Division of Public Safety. How dare it leave this issue unaddressed? The women I spoke with assured me that this had also happened to friends of theirs. How could DPS sit idly by while its office must have been positively inundated with complaints?

Imagine my surprise when these women admitted that they hadn't even reported the incidents! In fact, DPS hasn't received any such complaints in recent years, and most personnel with whom I spoke seemed just as shocked by the incidents as I had been.

Unbelievably, students believed that their experiences weren't serious enough to warrant reporting.

Well, news flash: They are.

And the Division of Public Safety thinks so too. "We will investigate every complaint that we get," said Domenic Ceccanecchio, the DPS' director of security and technical services. "I will not tolerate any unprofessional conduct."

It's still hard to claim that DPS has been "sitting idly by." All security guards receive formal sexual-harassment training before being allowed to patrol by themselves as well as ongoing "refresher training" once they are already on the force.

In addition, DPS administrators are constantly looking for ways to improve their services. The Panhellenic Council recently recommended an increase in the number of female security guards in order to make female students more comfortable, and DPS has begun a tremendous effort to do so.

The division is also currently exploring a program in which every guard would carry an identification card that he would distribute to each student he escorted. Students would then be able to report the behavior of a specific guard, and DPS could take appropriate action if necessary.

Security escorts are unquestionably one of the most effective deterrents to crime on campus, and it would certainly be unfortunate if the behavior of a small minority of guards prevented students from utilizing the service.

Every student should feel completely comfortable using the escort services. After all, their only goal is to keep all Penn students safe. And while DPS is certainly proactive in making its services as strong as possible, it can only address specific problems if it knows about them.

Anyone who has any sort of negative experience with security personnel must report it immediately, either online or by phone. Complaints can even be registered anonymously. What is most important is that DPS gets the information so it can take appropriate action.

So please, help DPS help all of us. After all, that's what it's there for.

Liz Hoffman is a sophomore political science major from New York, N.Y. New York Minute appears on Mondays.

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