SMU’s developing night escort, Giddy-Up, may put students at an inconvenience.
“It sucks, because I don’t go out at night just because I don’t want to walk alone in the dark,” first year transfer Taylor Crowell said.
Giddy-Up is set to run every day from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., but the availability of the service depends on whether the carts are staffed.
Crowell was hoping to get a ride back to a residence hall after she went to a fraternity party on a Thursday night with some of her friends. However, as the girls waited for Giddy-Up to arrive, a police SUV showed up instead. When the police officer discovered that there were seven girls, she said she could not escort them to their hall.
“She said there was no way she could take us in her car,” Crowell said.
Feeling like they had no other options, the girls walked back to the hall alone.
“We weren’t dressed comfortably enough to walk, and we were all girls walking alone in the dark. Cars honked at us as we passed,” she said.
According to Assistant Police Chief Rick Shafer, on weekdays an average of one cart will be driving nightly. However, Shafer emphasized that the schedule fluctuates in accordance with its student workers.
“I used to try to keep a [set] schedule with them. I don’t anymore,” he said.
According to Shafer, student workers tended not show up for their shift because of other educational priorities.
“We want to emphasize education over the job, so we’re really flexible,” he said.
In an interview with the program’s oldest driver, Robert Chukwamah admitted that scheduling was lax.
“Sometimes people ask me when Giddy-Up will be running, and I tell them ‘whenever I feel like working,'” he said.
Currently, the SMU Police Department has two active drivers with one pending. Student workers choose which times and days they prefer to work and are only allowed four-hour shifts.
Giddy-Up was modeled after Texas Christian University’s Froggie Five-O, which hires student workers to pick-up students during night hours.
“Students are more inclined to call [the escort] if another student is going to pick them up,” Shafer said.
In comparison with SMU’s possible one to two carts a night, TCU schedules seven to eight carts a night. On average, TCU gives 800 rides a night and 20,000 a year. However, TCU’s program has been running for eight years.
Other Dallas Metroplex schools have similar programs. UNT offers a bus that runs every 20 minutes from 5:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. UTA has three out of its seven golf carts running during hours that correspond to the libraries’ schedule. UTD trains students in the criminal justice field as civilian guards. The student employees work in pairs and walk with students who call. The only drastic difference between other Dallas Metroplex schools and SMU is their reliability. The schools offer set schedules along with the average amount of students working per night.
Police records showed that Giddy-Up gave hundreds of escorts during some nights. However, it also had no rides logged during others.
The service was first created and introduced by Police Chief Michael Snellgrove at the 2004 sessions of AARO. Three go-carts, which cost $9,000 each, were put into night action the following fall.
SMU has experimented with escort services in the past, one of which was called the Blue Angel. The Blue Angel, which was a blue van staffed by SMU staff and/or law students, stopped its services in 2001 when police escorts began.
Police escorts are still offered 24 hours a day to any student who may feel unsafe on campus. A police officer will always be on staff but response times may vary 10 to 15 minutes, according to the officer.
The SMU Police Department handpicks its employees to drive Giddy-Up. To relieve the campus of the Giddy-Up shortage, SMU Police are looking for more student drivers.
Student workers must be on federal work-study with good driving records. SMU police provide a short training session on how the carts work, how to log rides, general maintenance and to whom to give rides.
Students are trained to be proactive in their search for students who may need assistance. They are equipped with a radio that connects them to the police department in case of an emergency.
“They are another set of eyes and ears [on campus],” Shafer said.