Following the recent armed robbery on campus, TCU police sent an email with safety tips for students to follow, including the use of the free on campus ride service: Froggie Five-o.
Students seem to be taking this advice to heart as TCU police officer and program supervisor Pam Christian said Froggie Five-o has been really busy following the crime alert.
The Froggie Five-0 program is the student escort service that drives students around campus in golf carts. The service operates between the hours of 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. and not only helps get students home, but serves as a lookout for suspicious activity on campus. Depending on the night, Froggie Five-0 usually serves around 150 to 200 students, said Christian.
“It’s huge for safety on campus at night,” said Cole Rasco, a junior film-television-digital media major who is a nightly supervisor for the program. “Obviously that’s a pretty big thing with the whole aggravated assault here recently, but yeah, it’s huge for crime prevention. It’s huge for all of the students that need to get somewhere on campus that don’t feel safe going alone.”
The service has been around for almost 20 years, but the Froggies are now adapting to new technology implemented in their system last semester to help keep students safer. The new updates include a GPS system similar to the one used for TCU shuttles, computer dispatching, iPads in the golf carts and text message alerts to let students know when their driver has arrived.
Students call a dispatcher who enters the student’s information into the new computer program, which assigns the Froggie Five-0 driver.
“I think it works really good on the students’ end,” Rasco said.
Rasco said along with the new computer system, drivers can now push a button that will text students to notify them their driver has arrived. Froggie Five-0s cannot respond to these texts, but the dispatcher can see where all the carts are located on the new system if a student is having trouble finding their ride.
Christian said the drivers are still on the old radio system as well, in case the dispatcher needs to override the computer system.
“We’re still trying to work out some of the kinks,” Christian said.
Crime prevention is the program’s main target, and one TCU student said it makes students feel protected on campus from any danger, harm or threat.
“It makes you feel like no one will attack me if I’m with another person and in a golf cart,” said Maddie Thompson, a junior early childhood education major. “It just makes me feel safer in general.”
Students can order a Froggie Five-0 by calling the number 817- 257-5856, or they can call the TCU Police department for a police escort at any time by calling 817-257-7777.
