Georgia Southern University Public Safety has teamed up with the City of Statesboro police department to form a task force to limit crime on and off campus.

According GS Chief of Police Laura McCullough, the task force began late last semester and is still continuing today.

The main focus of Public Safety is the GS Campus, but they are aware that many students live off campus and hope the city can help students living off campus.

“Hopefully it means that a lot of that nonsense that was going on before the end of the semester stops,” McCullough said.

The task force will begin what McCullough calls a “concentrated patrol,” meaning that they will concentrate their efforts and additional manpower for high visibility in areas of concern right around campus.

“These [areas of concern] would typically be thought of as the complexes on the roadways that border campus, such as Lanier, Chandler and South Main,” McCullough said.

With this new task force students may see a presence of Statesboro Public Safety officers on campus and stronger presence in areas adjacent to campus.

“I think it’s good because it’s almost every morning I wake up to text messages saying there’s been a robbery in specific apartment complexes,” Dejah Worthen, freshman special education major, said.

Officers of both Statesboro PD and GS Public Safety have no difference in regards to authority and are both sworn in by the State.

“However,” McCullough said, “Statesboro Police officers also enforce city ordinances as well. GSPD officers will judicially refer students when they are arrested or involved in an incident on campus that violates the Student Code of Conduct,”

McCullough hopes that this task force will not cause alarm but make students feel more comfortable and safe.