Commentary: Students should be aware of Offender Registry

How safe do you feel at Wingate? How well do you know the area where you spend most of your year? Wingate’s quiet small town demeanor misleads many students to take fewer precautions than they should. After reviewing the North Carolina Offender Registry many students might want to change their habitual routines.

Around Wingate’s campus there are more than 10 sex offenders living in a 3-mile radius and in a 1-mile radius there are four on record sex offenders. The criminals mainly live on the back roads near Wingate Elementary, on Funderburk Road there are two on record sexual predators living. Although these facts might be treated as a lenient matter, the truth is that Wingate is a small town and the number of on record sexual predators in vicinity is worrisome.

Some female student were asked if they knew about the North Carolina Offender Registry website and if they had ever made use of it and both said no. After telling them the information that it provided and the amount of charged and convicted sex offenders around the campus they were very shocked.

One of the female students, Jenna Hill said that she had taken some safety precautions before. “I always locked my car the moment I got in and I never wandered alone," she said.

The other female student says that she also has taken precautions when it came to walking around campus. “ I always walk in numbers and check my surroundings. I also make sure that I have something in my hand, like my keys and before going out I always let someone know where I was going,” says Daniel Perry.

Then they said that although they know this information that they didn’t think that they needed to change their safety precautions or habitual routines on campus. Although they felt that the school could make some changes. “The school should take more precautions and take more security measures in different forms. I think that there are some areas that are not well lit and they should put security cameras up,” says Perry.

When Campus Security was asked about the issue they said that they were not aware of the website and the information that it offered, but that they have done everything in there power to keep the campus as safe as possible. They said that they were aware of some sexual predators that had been charged and convicted and that if they ever came on campus they kept an eye on them from the moment they stepped on to the premises until they left.

This information is unsettling and should serve as a sort of awareness within the Wingate community, on and off of campus. The truth of the matter is that Wingate University is an open campus and down the road is an Elementary school with a park right next to it.

The North Carolina Sex Offender registry is a tool that was set up by our state government to help the public sector be more aware of their surroundings; therefore, it should be put to use.

-- Zulema Vera