What happens before students call for help on campus

Paige Puhalsky
Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:22:56 +0000
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Students should always dial 911 in case of emergencies and report any suspicion of a situation to the police, according to university spokesperson Dan Hedman. Credit: Paige Puhalsky | LTV Campus Producer

Lillian Schofield, a second-year statistics major, had no idea her DoorDash order back in October would result in a call to Ohio State police.

Schofield said the driver told her to come outside to a white SUV to pick up her food. When she didn’t immediately respond, the driver repeatedly called her and urged her to come to his car.

Unsure whether the situation was dangerous enough but too uncomfortable to act, she decided to call the non-emergency campus police line, the same kind of split-second judgment Ohio State students make every day deciding whether to involve police.

In safety situations across campus, students make real-time decisions about whether to involve police based on urgency, perceived risk and personal comfort, and those choices directly shape how each situation unfolds.

“The biggest thing to remember, if you see something suspicious or witness or are the victim of a crime, report it to police,” Dan Hedman, director of marketing and communications for Ohio State police, said.

Hedman said students should always dial 911 in emergencies, including immediate threats to life, safety or property, crimes in progress, fires or serious medical emergencies.

He also said students calling 911 from a cell phone should tell the dispatcher they are on Ohio State’s campus so the call can be transferred to Ohio State police. Calls from campus landlines route directly to Ohio State’s dispatch center.

For non-emergencies, such as reporting lost or damaged property or a crime after the suspect has left, students can call the non-emergency line at 614-292-2121, Hedman said.

When Madison Starr, a first-year in biology, arrived back at her Morrill Tower dorm and found her bike missing, she also called Ohio State police.

“I knew that this was a theft, and I felt comfortable calling because I knew that it was basically my only option to get my bike back, even though we didn’t,” Starr said.

In other cases, students decide not to call the police for reasons that vary from being unsure what they are witnessing, fear for personal safety or concerns about the consequences for getting involved.

On Nov. 3, 2025, Audrey Stoneberg, a second-year in political science, was walking north down an alley off of 13th Street when she noticed a group of people arguing and one pulled a large black object from their pocket, which she thought was a gun or knife.

Stoneberg speed-walked about 200 yards to her boyfriend’s house, where she went inside and locked the door. She later learned the situation had escalated into a fatal stabbing.

“I didn’t call the police because of the uncertainty of the situation, and since I wasn’t with a group of people, I didn’t have people to back me up,” Stoneberg said.

Looking back, Stoneberg said she wished she had called the police, but at the time, she wasn’t sure what she had seen in the dark and was afraid of potentially having to testify as a witness.

“I couldn’t even think to call the police at that moment, I was in fight-or-flight to protect myself,” Stoneberg said.