Last weekend, Public Safety (PSafe) responded to a report of a break-in on campus, which marked the fourth burglary, including attempted intrusions, of this academic year. So far, no arrests have been made.
“We are working closely with the police and have a couple of people of interest that we’re looking into,” said Director of Public Safety Dave Meyer. “Most of the break-ins happened in the south end of campus, in the Home and Brainerd area.”
While most of the intruders entered through windows, even cutting screens in one instance, Meyer said that some of these incidents could have been avoided.
“Most of our thefts are crimes of opportunity, really,” he said. “[In these cases], one or two of the doors were unlocked.”
Each year, PSafe tries to raise awareness about safety issues by assigning officers to go door-to-door and organizing dorm and house meetings discussing crime prevention. PSafe also occasionally conducts directed patrols in specific areas where incidents occur, especially during the first few weeks of school.
According to Meyer, campus-wide e-mails are sent out only if an incident affecting the general safety of the community occurs, such as the confrontation and robbery that occurred early Sunday morning on High Street. In isolated break-in incidents, only nearby houses are notified, unless numerous burglaries occur within a short period of time.
Leave a Reply