With the new school year approaching, local police are reminding students about safety measures and local policies that will be enforced.

Over the past few years, bicycle safety has become a major focus for local police departments. Officers began issuing more citations to bicyclists in the fall 2012 semester. Deputy Chief Skip Frost, of the University of Illinois Police Department, said his department will be more active in enforcing bicycle safety ordinances when students return to campus.

“We will be elevating our focus on bicycles basically because we have seen over the past couple years that there have been some pretty significant injuries due to bicyclist behavior,” Frost said. “With the increase in bicycles, sometimes the behavior of motorists and pedestrians have caused bicyclist issues as well.”

The bicycle safety rules come from city ordinances and the Illinois vehicle code.

In addition, students can expect enforcement of a new University policy: a smoking ban will officially take effect on campus January 1, 2014.

Because the smoking ban is a matter of University policy and not the law, Frost said the police will not be citing people who do not comply. Rather, the behavior will be dealt with through staff resources if the offender is a faculty member, and through the student code if the offender is a student.

The smoking ban does have the potential to become a matter of the law, though, as Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit smoking on all state-supported institutions of higher education. The bill calls for a ban beginning on July 1, 2014.

Frost wants to remind students that the UIPD is a resource for them, and that student safety is the department’s priority. He said students should know that the campus is safe, but it is not crime-free.

“Crime can and does occur,” he said. “We need the support of the community if we’re going to address those issues in a timely and effective manner.”

Sari can be reached at [email protected] or @Sari_Lesk.