While Riley says he looks forward to input from the advisory board, he says he hopes to make safety awareness the focus of his crime prevention strategy.

As part of that initiative, in the last six months Riley has put 12 officers on police bike patrols, installed new police emergency phones and updated the crime prevention technology available to his officers.

In cooperation with the Graduate School of Design and Harvard Planning and Real Estate, HUPD has developed detailed maps of crime on campus.

They have also set up a database to analyze from where calls for help are received so that Riley can reassign police beats to cover the parts of campus most sensitive to crime.

Riley says HUPD also plans to use the map-making technology to create a map for students that indicates the location of "blue light phones," as well as "preferred routes of travel."

"We try to be known as a hard target for professional criminals," says Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III.

"Police reaction time is two minutes and you should always be able to see a police car five minutes away from where you are," Epps says.

Epps says enhanced publicity campaigns and presentations have been crucial in tightening campus security this year.

As in years past, police handed out the "Playing It Safe" booklet and posted red safety flyers around campus.

But this year, Riley also set up a booth to register bikes as first-year students arrived and initiated safety presentations by police officers in numerous dorms and houses.

Riley says the initiatives are meant not only to educate students, but also to acquaint them with the officers.

Also an important part of improving campus policing, Riley says, is enhanced cooperation between the HUPD and the security guards.

"We are the eyes and ears of the police," says Superintendent of Security Calvin J. Kantor.

"Guards in the houses know most students by name," says Kantor. "If students don't feel comfortable talking to us, then there needs to be more education because that's how we get a lot of valuable information, from students themselves."

Officer Maureen Morrison says the success of community policing depends on students interacting with police officers.