The Office of Safety and Security took an important step in its outreach to the community by launching a new online feedback portal.

The portal, which went live Jan. 6, is a way for students to submit comments to Senior Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Darrell Darnell. The concerns or praise from members of the community will then be reviewed and subsequently dealt with by the appropriate Safety and Security department.

The move to create this system of feedback is a prime example of how other administrators and departments can improve outreach and communication with all members of the community.

It must be ensured that those who submit comments are able to gauge whether or not their feedback is being adequately addressed. There must be a transparent process which allows users to see how and if their feedback was addressed and reviewed.

And while this initial step in improving communication with the community is laudable, other aspects of campus safety and security must also improve its transparency. Most notably, students remain unaware of the proceedings of a UPD misconduct investigation, and are only told whether or not their claim is substantiated.