ASU and Phoenix police addressed students’ safety concerns in a forum Thursday at the Taylor Place residence hall on the Downtown Phoenix campus.

The meeting, which attracted only a handful of students, had been planned for weeks but came on the heels of gunshots being fired near the campus over the weekend.

Phoenix police Officer Don Maloney said the shooting involved patrons from Club Downtown on Central Avenue, between McKinley and Roosevelt streets.

Maloney said officers were nearby when they heard the gunshots.

“No one is targeting ASU. The shooting was not connected to ASU,” Maloney said. “Students don’t need to worry about not feeling safe.”

Officer Luis Samudio said Phoenix police filed a report on damage to the Cronkite building as a result of the shooting but did not determine exactly where the shots came from.

ASU Assistant Police Chief Jay Spradling said in an e-mail that the shots had been fired from Pierce Street, north of the campus.

Nonprofit leadership and management junior Sam Richard said he has always felt safe downtown. Richard is a resident of Taylor Place and has lived downtown for three years, previously in a house off campus.

“The stigma of downtown Phoenix has lingered since the 1980s,” he said. “The urban environments in the West aren’t as popular. It’s a weird sort of middle ground, but I feel completely safe.”

Maloney and ASU Sgt. Al Phillips said their agencies are working to be highly visible in the community.

“Very seldom do I go anywhere and not see any [police officers],” Phillips said.

ASU police has 23 police aides, as well as eight officers and personnel who monitor the campus, Phillips said. Phoenix police have 45 officers in the area, Maloney said.

The best way to be safe downtown is to know one’s environment, and walk in pairs, Maloney said.

“Be alert. Pay attention and know your surroundings.” He said. “We live in the fifth largest urban environment in the country. It’s no different than any other big city.”

In the last four years, crime has gone down in Phoenix’s Central City Precinct, according to the Phoenix police Web site.

The precinct covers the Downtown campus. Last year the total number of violent, property and drug crimes averaged 1,156 per month. This year the average is 1,044 per month.

Despite the numbers, Kim Novak, director of Student and Campus Community Development, said safety is a big concern on the Downtown campus.

She said 16 lights have been added to the parking lot on McKinley Street, where Taylor Place residents park, and traffic concerns on First and Second streets are being dealt with.

Novak said safety escorts are available to students on all campuses and that students with safety concerns should never be afraid to alert a University or law enforcement official.

Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.