YPA Survey - Safety in New Haven

A PDF version of the report is available here.

On March 1st, 2021, the Yale Postdoctoral Association launched a survey to hear the concerns of postdocs and ARS at Yale about public safety in New Haven. The survey was hosted on Yale Connect, and only open to members of the YPA (n = 1405). The survey was left open until March 10th, 2021, collecting the responses for the two questions below, from 94 postdocs/ARS that participated in the survey:

  1. Would you be interested in attending a Public Safety Awareness Briefing hosted by the Yale Police?
  2. Would you like to share (anonymously) any concern you may have about safety on campus or around New Haven? Leave your comment below. 

Results

The final statistics collected on question 1 shows that 52% of the respondents (n=49) are interested in attending a Public Safety Awareness Briefing hosted by the Yale Police:

Survey Results

The final statistics collected on question 1 shows that 52% of the respondents (n=49) are interested in attending a Public Safety Awareness Briefing hosted by the Yale Police:

survey word cloud

The word cloud to the right shows the main words used in the responses sent for question 2 (excluding adverbs, prepositions and pronouns). The open responses were compiled and summarized as follows, sorted alphabetically based on some of the keywords.

Perceptions & Concerns

Postdocs and ARS who responded to the survey shared the following perceptions and concerns. These responses are paraphrased to protect respondent privacy and reflect survey respondents’ viewpoints only. Respondents expressed that they:

  • Are concerned about armed robberies taking place in their neighborhoods
  • Sense that crime rates are increasing
  • Feel unsafe in downtown New Haven
  • Do not feel safe living in New Haven
  • Desire to move from New Haven due to concerns about their safety
  • Consider that the New Haven Police are not always responsive to their reports of incidents
  • Feel unsafe while walking at night
  • Have safety concerns walking to and from parking lots
  • As BIPOC members of the community, are concerned about racial profiling by police
  • Report that bicycles and cars are being targeted in robberies on-campus
  • Feel that social issues and systemic injustices in New Haven need to be tackled to provide safety
  • Are unable to go for walks as they used to do in other locations where they lived, as they feel unsafe
  • Feel concerned when they receive constant Yale Alerts reporting thefts, assaults, shootings, etc

Opinions and Suggestions

In addition to the safety concerns expressed above, postdocs and ARS who responded to the survey shared the following opinions and suggestions for improving public safety. These responses are paraphrased to protect respondent privacy and reflect survey respondents’ viewpoints only.

  • Street lighting in New Haven is poor, and needs to be improved
  • Night shuttles should be more frequent
  • New Haven residents need to be provided affordable housing, jobs, and public services
  • The walk escorting service should be expanded to areas beyond the Yale Campus
  • The TapRide service must be reactivated
  • The YPD is not necessary, given that New Haven has its own police department
  • More police patrols need to take place, especially done by unarmed security guards

March 12th, 2021

Yale Postdoctoral Association