Kristin Smart case put campus safety under scrutiny
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – When 19-year-old Kristin Denise Smart of Stockton went missing from the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus after a Memorial Day weekend party on May 25, 1996, campus safety was put under scrutiny.
Two years and half years later, on November 12, 1998, Cal Poly junior Rachel Newhouse, 20, disappeared after walking home alone from a Mexican restaurant.
The next year on March 11, 1999, Questa College student Aundria Crawford, 20, was taken from her apartment.
College campuses across California and the country warned students not to walk alone and to lock up.
At one point, Paul Flores was considered a suspect in the Newhouse case, but investigators soon caught an ex-con named Rex Allen Krebs – who remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
Both the Krebs and Flores trials were moved to Salinas in Monterey County.
On Tuesday, Flores, now 45, learned that he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Kristin Smart 26 years ago. Flores will be sentenced in December.
Although current students are too young to remember those cases, they have them to thank for putting campus safety front and center again and again.
Most universities now have tamper-proof blue light emergency towers with intercoms or phones.
At UCSB there are about 20 of them, and some students would like to see more.
Third-year student Alissa Orozco said, "They do make other people feel comfortable, and they kind of do make me feel comfortable knowing that there is at least an option if something does happen."
Associated Student worker Eli Diaz said they tell students about them and other safety measures such as the Safety Stations made of tents during special events and holidays.
They have Community Safety Officer Escorts there to help students get home safely.
The Isla Vista Community Services District also lets students know they can call 805-893-2000 for help as well.
Some students carry emergency pepper spray and whistles to feel protected.
Nothing will bring the murdered students back, but it appears part of their legacy is the focus on safety in and around college and university campuses.
