COSTA MESA : Crisis Team Works to Make College Safer

Since an Orange Coast College student was abducted and raped in the spring of 1991, the college’s Crisis Alert Team has been trying to make the campus a safer place for the 23,000 students who walk its halls.

“I think that crime is going up in the community, and we are an open campus and would be foolish not to be prepared,” Sharon Donoff, the team’s chairwoman, told the Coast Community College District board recently.

Eight members make up the team, which tries to respond to all reports as quickly as possible.

The 3-year-old team also offered this advice to students:

* Don’t be embarrassed to call campus security and ask for an escort service.

* If you don’t want an escort, try to walk in groups through the parking lot.

* Never carry a lot of money with you.

* And, above all, report any suspicious incident. An emergency phone line goes directly to security. If you’re on campus, head for the nearest red telephone and dial 5555.