Escort Service

The Escort Service at the University of California, Riverside, started during the 1974/75 academic year. Concerned residents of the Aberdeen-Inverness residence halls utilized the notion of a "buddy system" as the foundation. Two years later, the Service moved to what is now The Women's Resource Center. The Rivera Library, the central locus of campus, was the initial dispatch site. However, in Fall 1998, the dispatching desk was relocated to the new Science Library, as the Rivera Library began major renovation. While its title has changed, its purpose has not. The new Campus Safety Escort Service still carries the same theme. "Teamwork Makes it Happen" is its constant. Under the guidance of a staff advisor and two paid student escorts, the Service has flourished.

The Service prides itself on being the only volunteer escort service system wide, escorting more than 8,000 people annually, and ranked the fifth most critical student service on campus. For exemplary performance, the group has received the Bayless Leadership Award for four consecutive years.

Current coordinators have guided the group toward even greater heights, offering more of a service-club orientation. For example, they "adopted" two needy families and provided them with every item on their holiday wish list, including toys, clothes, and household goods. A move and pizza night for gift-wrapping followed.

Escort volunteers most prove themselves worthy by completing an application, interview, reference checks, and training process. When training is over, they are equipped with a Mag-Lite, handy talkie radio monitored by the campus Police Department, identification tag, bicycle, helmet, uniform jersey, and jacket. Quarterly self-defense training workshops are offered for all escorts.

To request an escort, Sunday through Thursday, dusk to midnight, call (909) 787-3772. Red dial phones are located in most campus buildings. An escort will walk you safely to and from any destination on University property. Escorts are dispatched from the Science Library until midnight and are posted at Rivera Library until closing. To become an escort, fill out an application for an interview at WRC, 260 Costo Hall. For additional information, call (909) 787-3337.