University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student's will return from their Thanksgiving break to a new safety initiative and safety walkers roaming the campus, said Tom Luljak, Vice Chancellor to University Relations at UW-Milwaukee.

The $500,000 safety initiative was announced last Tuesday at a press conference and it includes hiring: five full armed officers, four public safety officers and 24 walking escorts, Luljak said.,”University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students returned from Thanksgiving break Monday to a new campus safety initiative.

The $500,000 initiative was announced last week and includes hiring five fully armed officers and four public safety officers for the university's police force, plus 24 students hired as walking escorts, Tom Luljak, vice chancellor for university relations at UWM.

"This will be a very effective tool to enhance campus security," Luljak said.

The university hired walking escorts last week and would like to hire three of the five armed officers in the coming weeks. The rest of the initiative will be completed during the spring semester, Luljak said.

He said the walking escorts were modeled partly after Marquette University's safety walkers along with other college safety programs.

The escorts will be in groups of two wearing radios that will keep them in direct communication with the UWM Police Department from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., Luljak said.

He said faculty, staff and students created the safety initiative through a campus committee after the shootings at Virginia Tech last April. UWM Police Chief Pamela Hodermann met with Larry Rickard, chief of Marquette's Department of Public Safety, to get ideas for the initiative, Luljak said.

Robert Grover, student president of the UW-Milwaukee Student Association, said Student Association leadership worked closely with the committee.

Grover said students voiced safety concerns to the administration in light of recent crime sprees, specifically an off-campus shooting on Nov. 5 that left one student injured.

The Student Association pushed the university to start the initiative by increasing the UWM's Be On the Safe Side shuttle service, which similar to Marquette's LIMO service, Grover said. He also said he has heard students hired as walking escorts express concern about being on patrol until 4 a.m.

Luljak said UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago first received the safety initiative in October.

"We accepted the recommendation of the committee in full," Luljak said.

Art Koch, detective sergeant for the UWM Police Department, said there was a need for the initiative because of an increase in street crime in the area around the university.

"We can't do it with out the additional support," Koch said.

Koch said he would like see more than five police officers added because his department is being asked to cover areas further off campus.

Koch said the police began patrolling more off-campus areas last spring and are now being stretched thin.

But Luljak said there was no request for more officers. He said the combination of the fully armed police officers, public safety and walking escorts will strengthen campus safety.

Grover said the initiatives will help increase security but need to be critiqued regularly.

"The whole system will need a little tweaking in order for a success," Grover said.

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