The University of Florida SaferPlaces Lab, which is developing crime-prevention tools for Gainesville communities, won the Win Phillips Town Gown Relations Award on Friday.
Established in 2021 and led by UF research scientist and criminologist Read Hayes, Ph.D., the SaferPlaces Lab develops evidence-based, community-scale programs that test high-impact crime prevention tools and processes.
“The driving mission — the why — is to better safeguard vulnerable people and assets in spaces and places across the Gainesville community, the state and the nation,” noted Erik Sander, the executive director of the UF Engineering Innovation Institute, in his letter nominating Hayes and the lab.
The lab is a model of innovation and collaboration that also enriches relationships between UF and Gainesville residents.
“The UF SaferPlaces Lab is one of a kind in the world,” Hayes said. “We’re working with 114 retail corporations, 164 technology companies and multiple law enforcement agencies. We conducted over 400 field and lab crime-prevention projects over the last 24 years, including, criminal-offender interviews, data modeling and field experiments.”
Retail corporations and law enforcement agencies across the United States and overseas, he added, are using the small public-view monitors and crime-deterrence programs developed at the UF SaferPlaces Lab. He said he hopes to hire three more research scientists to conduct ongoing crime-prevention research across Florida.
The SaferPlaces Lab hosts bi-monthly meetings at the UF INNOVATE Hub in with leadership from multiple public safety agencies: Gainesville Police Department, UF Police Department, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol and Gainesville Fire Rescue.
“The ‘how’ of this program demonstrates a deep commitment to town-gown relations through public safety partnerships,” Sander said in the nomination letter.
“Town and gown” is a common reference to university-community partnerships. Hayes said the award demonstrates how a research university can work with a specific community to increase safety while developing processes that can be translated and adapted across the state and nation.
“By transforming Gainesville into a dynamic proving ground for advanced crime prevention, the SaferPlaces Lab and Dr. Hayes have not only enhanced public safety for all but have also forged a powerful, collaborative partnership that serves as a benchmark for town-gown synergy,” Sander noted. “Their work is a clear demonstration of the university and Loss Prevention Research Council utilizing its
research expertise to create tangible, positive change in the community.”
“The hope,” Hayes said, “is this amazing award will increase the UF SaferPlaces Lab’s profile with state leaders.”
Established in 2022, the Win Phillips Town Gown Relations Award celebrates the connections between UF and the Greater Gainesville area, recognizing people and ideas benefiting the campus and community.
The award’s namesake, the late Win Phillips, served as the College of Engineering’s dean from 1988 to 1999, when he left the college for another leadership role.
Phillips, who died in 2024, was known for building and maintaining UF relationships with local governments and businesses. In 2014, Phillips won The Guy Who Made It All Happen Award at the UF Technology Showcase, marking his creation of a UF technology licensing program, as well as the development of what is now UF Innovate and the larger, community-based Innovation District.