Public Saftey 4-20-07

Attorney General Roy Cooper and the state’s higher education leaders announced Wednesday they will review campus safety as a result of the 33 shooting deaths earlier this week at Virginia Tech. Erskine Bowles, president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system, said the system had already planned to limit access to dorms and install more cameras on its campuses. The crime rate on UNC campuses is one-sixth the crime rate of the entire state, he said. Cooper's task force will study lock-down procedures, how to improve communication with students, and ways to better identify potential lawbreakers.

Rep. Ty Harrell has introduced a bill, House Bill 1764, to redact some personal, identifying information such as cell phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, and insurance policy numbers from online vehicle accident reports. The online revelation of such detailed, personal information leaves people involved in accidents open to online identify theft.