By Leah Beth Bolton 

The University of Memphis is improving safety by installing more Code Blue phones around campus.

Bruce Harber, director of public safety and Police Services, said that the university has continued to add phones to decrease crime on campus and to ensure that students feel safe while commuting to and from school.

“When I came here from the Memphis Police Department, I thought if we had great crime numbers that are low, everything would be great, but that’s only half the battle,” Harber said. “The other part is making sure people feel safe, so the phones help with that.”

Harber added that there are currently 42 phones spread out across campus, but the school will continue to add them each year, as long as proper funding is provided.

“They are expensive. They run around $10,000 to $15,000 a piece,” he said.

By Leah Beth Bolton 

Students and residents who live in the surrounding areas of the University of Memphis are concerned about what warrants a Tiger Text.

The U of M's emergency alert text messaging system, which was put in place in 2007 following the Virginia Tech Massacre, is used to keep students abreast of their safety on campus. However, for many students, it’s been unclear exactly what Police Services deems as necessary to report.

“We tell parents and students, especially at orientation, that we don’t use Tiger Text for anything other than what we think is an ongoing threat to our campus community. That includes students, faculty and staff—not just students,” said Bruce Harber, the director of Public Safety and Police Services.

He added that many people want to use the system for news updates. 

“There’s a tendency for people to want us to use it as a news service,” Harber said. “If something is going on, they want to know about it, and that’s not what it’s designed for. We want to be very cautious when we use it. We don’t want to overuse it so it loses its impact.”

Harber explained that Police Services uses the Timely Warning of Reported Crimes policy. 

According to that policy, the U of M must report crimes to students when two conditions are met. First, the crime must be listed as “arson, aggravated assault, criminal homicide, robbery, sex offense, or any crime determined to be a hate crime is reported to the University Police (UMPD) or other campus security authorities.” Secondly, the crime must be considered “by the University to represent a continuing threat to students or employees.”

In the past, however, not all crimes have been reported to students, which has been a hot topic for the University’s newspaper.

In 2012, a registered sex offender was arrested for allegedly raping a woman on campus. The offense was not immediately entered into the campus’ incident log, which is required by the Clery Act, and students were not alerted until The Daily Helmsman reported on the crime.

Harber later responded to the incident, telling the Helmsman that it was not reported via Tiger Text because it was not viewed as an ongoing threat to the campus after his arrest.

Despite the University’s clear policies on when they will alert students with a text message, many students claim they would feel safer knowing about more crime.

U of M junior Josh Tucker, who lives a block from campus, said he's enrolled in the service and relies on it for his safety at home as well as on campus.

 "In a way, Tiger Text has helped me feel safer," Tucker said. "But a lot of time it just reminds me that I don't live in a safe area. However, it is a useful tool."

By Leah Beth Bolton 

Ask any of the students at the University of Memphis who Bruce Harber is and they’re guaranteed to answer, but many have been unable to put a face to the name.

As Director of Police Services and Public Safety at the U of M, Harber is most known for his direct electronic contact with the student body, faculty and staff, whether it be for a safety concern or weather alert.

Harber’s responsibilities vary on campus, but he is widely known for being the “man behind the Tiger Texts,” the U of M’s emergency alert text messaging system, which he helped develop for the school in 2007.

His goal is to eliminate crime on campus and keep students up to date on safety. 

“Here on campus we’re down over 10 percent. Surrounding areas are down 4.8 percent. The entire area is down 13.7 percent as a whole,” Harber said.

He added that new research has shown crime in the school’s parking lots on vehicles has gone down almost 75 percent in his 14 years on campus, which he credits to more of a police presence.

“When you consider that we have 10,000 parking spaces, which turn over a time and a half a day, our officers have done a tremendous job of keeping our students safe,” Harber said.

Harber, who moved to Memphis in the ninth grade, had an interest in public safety early on. He joined the Memphis Police Department’s cadet program right out of high school, which led him to seek a degree in the subject. He continued with the part-time program for two years while seeking his degree at the U of M.

He graduated from college in 1991 with a Bachelor of Professional Studies in police administration.

Harber worked for the Memphis Police Department for 25 years before beginning his work at the University in 2000 as the assistant director of Police Services. In January 2002, he was appointed as the new director of Police Services.

On top of his responsibilities on campus, Harber is studying for his master’s degree, which he hopes to finish by the end of the year.