The British Columbia Institute of Technology has introduced a new Safety Smart Program at a BCIT President’s Forum that took place at the school’s Burnaby campus on Wednesday.
The forum was open to faculty and staff and comes after a voyeurism incident that allegedly took place on campus in November 2015.
At first it was unclear whether media would be allowed into the meeting, but Global News camerman Karl Casselman was given full access to the proceedings.
A 23-year-old man is facing charges after allegedly recording a classmate in the washroom at the main campus. BCIT was criticized for how it handled the case.
WATCH: A BCIT student is in trouble with the law, after allegedly spying on and recording another student inside a washroom.
As part of the forum, BCIT introduced a new Safety Smart Program, which includes a new Safety Smart app that will be released later this spring.
President Kathy Kinloch says the new app will be available for students and staff to make the school safer for everyone.
“Some of the features of that will be that it will be a push on your mobile phone that’s connected to the BCIT Alert notification system and instantly notifies community members in an emergency and options to call and chat to report any suspicious activity,” says Kinloch.
Assistant Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Management Adrian Hingston said recent events prompted a review of how they communicate with the community.
“The goal of the program and going through this Safety Smart initiative is to create an awareness within the community,” she said. “We’re going to look at different avenues to bolster the current program that we have in place.”
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