Campus safety was a focal point at Tuesday’s Student Senate meeting, with the chambers unanimously approving a resolution encouraging scooter safety and University Police Department Operations Deputy Chief Darren Baxley giving an update on the TapShield app.
The resolution came two weeks after a UF student, 22-year-old Gabriella Leona Molden, was hit while driving her scooter southbound on Southwest 13th Street near Museum Road.
Sen. Kailyn Allen, one of the authors of the resolution and one of Molden’s sorority sisters, thanked the members of the chambers for approving the resolution, adding that she and other senators are planning to start a PR campaign on campus to show the benefits of wearing helmets while riding a motorized scooter.
A GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for Molden’s hospital bills has raised about $18,500 as of press time.
Later in the meeting, Baxley gave Senators an update on TapShield, a smartphone application that allows students to report local crime.
The app, which was created in January 2014, has about 21,000 active users, Baxley said.
There have been 160 total activations through April 2015, according to statistics from UPD. Of those 160 activations, 139 have been accidental.
Baxley said the accidental activations, while not always ideal, are actually a benefit to UPD.
“The good news is the app worked as advertised,” Baxley said, “and it did summon a law enforcement response to that person.”
Students can download the app by searching “TapShield” on the Apple iTunes or Google Play stores.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 7/2/15]
· Two replacement Senators — one permanent replacement (Carrie Wilkey, Lakeside) and one Summer B replacement (Wayne Selogy, Sophomore) were approved by unanimous consent. There are still seven vacant Summer B replacement seats and one vacant permanent seat.
· Nathalia Ortega and Michael Poplewko were approved to seats on the Allocations Committee, while Devon Leasure was approved for the Rules and Ethics Committee.
