On Sunday, Sept. 29, Saint Louis University student Dan Carmody made a call to the Department of Public Safety at 9:30 p.m. Carmody had recently begun using crutches due to an ankle injury, and because of his limitations hoped to receive transportation assistance.

Carmody had to travel from the Village apartments to Marchetti West, and he knew that the journey would not only be difficult but possibly dangerous.

Being a fourth year veteran of SLU, Carmody saw this as an excellent opportunity to utilize the DPS escort service. Upon calling, Carmody informed the DPS dispatcher of his mobility limitation and asked if the escort assigned would provide a golf cart.

After being put on hold for 5-10 minutes, Carmody was informed that the escort service was unable to provide any form of transportation assistance because of liability considerations.

When Carmody questioned the reasoning behind this rule, the DPS employee explained that she was unclear about the rationale but was following procedure simply because it was an order passed down from her supervisor.

After Carmody persisted, the officer agreed to transport him this one time, but said that the service could not be provided on a regular basis. Jack Titone, director of Public Safety, and Captain Rick Younger, assistant director of Public Safety, both said that they were unaware of the problem involving transportation services for students with disabilities.

“The University has always bent over backwards to provide an escort service,” Titone said.

In fact, Titone said, DPS has no policy about refusing to transport disabled students and staff. According to Titone, each year DPS makes 23,000 escorts and spent $40,000 a couple years ago to purchase a van specifically for escorting handicapped students.

Although escort provisions for students with disabilities are available, both students and service providers are not fully aware of their existence.

In addition, according to Younger, while DPS is committed to providing accommodations to students with disabilities, its ability to respond promptly to requests for service may at times be limited by other security issues.

On weekdays, the campus escort service begins at 7 p.m. immediately after the campus shuttle stops. The escort service is provided with one supervisor vehicle, four mobile units and one van used to transport disabled students. In an average month, the van is used approximately five to six times.

Under usual circumstances, when a student calls requesting an escort, he or she will be met by a walking escort.

Most often, this will be a student community service officer. However, because the cars can be driven by DPS officers only, if it happens to be a particularly slow night, the probability of a student being met with a car is often much greater.

When asked how they might have responded differently to Carmody’s call, Titone and Younger both agreed that they would have inquired as to how well the student could use his crutches. They also would have wanted to know whether or not the student could get in and out of the vehicle without great difficulty.

By asking more questions, the officers said they would have been provided with more information as to what type of transportation vehicle was needed. For example, if a student had recently undergone reconstructive knee surgery, therefore needing to stretch his or her legs out, DPS would provide the larger van for the disabled rather than one of the four normal-sized vehicles.

Students needing special accommodations should call the Disabilities Information Center, which makes arrangements for accessible transportation and tours of campus, and provides resources for renting scooters and wheelchairs. The number for this service is 977-3838.

Student Government Association President Mike Rozier and University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., recently proposed an idea to the President’s Coordinating Council and DPS.

Their proposal was to add an additional service to the escort program which will be provided to students, faculty and staff that allows for easier transportation between Olive Garage and residence halls via a six-passenger golf cart driven by a student community service officer. This service will run from 6 p.m. until 12 a.m.

According to Titone, DPS hopes to extend the hours until 1 a.m. “We are hoping this program will alleviate problems of inconvenience and safety,” Titone said.

The service will begin as soon as CSOs go through necessary training in working with this newly established program.

“The escort service is an important aspect of campus safety, but it is also only one aspect of what we do,” Younger said.

In the past, there have been delays in escort service pickup because of problems such as water leaks, campus robberies and student health emergencies.

However, Titone and Younger explained that students would be made aware of such delays and immediate action would be taken after the emergency was resolved. Students requesting escort services or seeking more information about services available for people with disabilities can call DPS at 977-3000.