Four Months After Officer Murdered On Campus, Texas Tech Rated as One of the Safest in the Nation
Just over four months have passed since Texas Tech Police Officer Floyd East, Jr. was killed on the campus of Texas Tech University. Tuesday, the university announced that it's been rated one of the safest campuses in the United States.
According to a press release from Texas Tech, the National Council for Home Safety and Security rated Texas Tech in the top 250 of four year universities with at least 4,000 students.
Reported crimes such as assault and burglary were factors in the rating for Texas Tech, according to the press release from the university:
...each school’s score was calculated by analyzing crimes reported by universities, including sexual assault, robberies, assaults, burglaries, motor vehicle theft and arson. Violent and property crime rates for the city in which a university is located and the number of law enforcement officers employed by the institution per 1,000 students also factored into the ranking.
Texas Tech also announced recently they would add security cameras throughout campus. The shooting of Officer East was not referenced by Texas Tech in the press release.
"We are pleased to see Texas Tech ranked as one of the safest college campuses in America by the National Council for Home Safety and Security," Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath said in the release. "While the rankings are based on several factors outside of Texas Tech's control, Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech Police Department will always strive to improve the overall safety and security for everyone attending, working or visiting Texas Tech."
Texas Tech also announced that the addition of the cameras is in-line with an initiative to move towards automated campus safety.
Officer Floyd East, Jr. was shot and killed on October 9th, 2017. It took over 30 minutes for a TechAlert to be sent out to the campus after shots were reportedly fired, and nearly an hour and a half before the suspect was caught on campus according to a timeline of events from KFYO.
After the shooting, Texas Tech announced a review of security measures and that Texas DPS would lead that effort.