By Michael Naughton

When Dan Quintal, a junior political science and international affairs major, called the North-eastern University Police Depart-ment (NUPD) from Louis Prang Street Thursday night asking for an escort ride to West Campus, he was surprised to hear the dispatcher on the other end of the line deny his request.

Quintal did not actually need a ride, however, as his call was part of a test. The Student Government Association’s (SGA) Vice President for Student Services Nicole Martino, along with over a half dozen volunteers, evaluated the performance of the escort service Thursday night after receiving complaints from students concerning its efficiency.

The escort service sends police officers or cadets to anyone requesting an escort on campus who is going to another location on campus, as long as both locations are within the borders posted on the Public Safety Division’s Web site, www.publicsafety.neu.edu.

According to the Web site, “the service is available to students, faculty and staff who are traveling from one location to another location, whenever personal safety is a concern, within the area bordered by Columbus Avenue on the south, Massachusetts Avenue to Westland Avenue on the East, The Fenway on the north and Ruggles Street to Louis Prang on the west.”

The escort vans that run at the top of every hour during the night from Snell Library and Ruggles Station will take any student presenting a valid Northeastern ID to his residence on or off campus, as long as it is within a mile of the center of campus.

Martino sent volunteers to different locations on and off campus, from Boston House of Pizza, to Blockbuster video on Mass-achusetts Avenue, to Louis Prang Street near Ruggles Station. All of the volunteers called NUPD asking for an escort back to different residence halls on campus and almost all of the volunteers were in the company of an escort within 10 minutes.

“I was surprised at how well the escort service responded,” Martino said. “The only problem was the one on Louis Prang Street and at Boston House of Pizza when the dispatcher said those places were off-campus, when they are really on-campus.”

The volunteer who was sent to Boston House of Pizza was told by the dispatcher that the escort would not go to her current location. The volunteer asked if the escort would meet her if she walked across the street to the YMCA and the dispatcher agreed

Associate Director of Public Safety James Ferrier said some students do not understand the concept of the escort service.

“A lot of students are uninformed or misinformed about the escort service,” Ferrier said. “We just have to educate more students about it.”

Ferrier estimates that the NUPD receives 12 requests each night for an escort. The 12- passenger shuttle vans usually pick up about three or four people.

SGA and Northeastern’s Public Safety Division are attempting to start a “student personal safety escort service” that will operate between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. SGA and the Public Safety Division are seeking students and student organizations to volunteer for this service.