UMSL Case Study

The City of New Brunswick is relatively safe except for hours after dark when there have been many controversial incidents of victimization. The safety of Rutgers New Brunswick attracted major concern in early 2014 when a former Rutgers student was murdered just blocks away from the New Brunswick campus, in an area highly populated by off-campus students. In a South River town hall meeting in March 2014, you expressed your empathy for parents and students who were deeply concerned about the safety of Rutgers New Brunswick. I agree with your position that granting “full police powers” to the Rutgers Police Department (RUPD) is not a viable solution to off-campus crime. Even with full police powers, the RUPD would encounter jurisdictional constraints which would limit their ability to effectively police off-campus areas.

Stephen F. Austin is a beautiful school surrounded by tall pine trees and lakes. With the small population of students that attend this university compared to, for example, the University of Texas, most students and parents would not suspect that many crimes occur on campus. Stephen F. Austin is not high on the crime list compared to other universities, but it is not completely sound either. Last year, around the spring semester, there were several rumored cases of young women being beaten by an unidentified male. Due to these rumors many students did not feel safe walking around campus, especially at night. In the Crime Log for Stephen F. Austin there were a reported of twenty-four burglaries from 2013-2015, and four reported forcible assaults with three of them occurring in on campus housing. This semester a fraternity on campus, Alpha Tau Omega, was accused of sexually assaulting a student during one of their events. The young women claimed to have been drugged and then sexually assaulted by several different men. Grand jurors’ chose not to indict anyone; therefore, the case was dropped.

On 02/27/2017, I, Dillon Dickerson, badge #155, was working as a Patrol Officer for the Wichita State University Police Department (WSU PD), in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. At approximately 2300 hours during our shift briefing second shift advised we may have to do some follow up to a case they had earlier in the shift. Officer Ben Gabel #152 was the one who took the case. Officer Gabel advised there was a Battery case which happened earlier in the day. This case involved two students. Officer Gabel said there may be a male student by the name of Mekeal Simmons making contact with WSU PD. Officer Gable stated the female half of the Battery (Jessica Johnson) would be leaving campus around 0130 hours to return to Texas. Officer Gabel advised he told the female half to call WSU PD and we would come out there to make sure she was safe while she packed up her items. Officer Gable also said he was in contact with Chief Sara Morris #113 and she was aware of the case. Officer Gable said if we do have contact with the male to get a statement from him and to contact the Captains or Chief.

The presence of a police department allows students to feel safe. The UCR police department (UCRPD) is located toward the beginning of campus housing. Similar to any other building on campus, the building’s interior can be seen through clear glass. Located near PARKING LOT 24, surrounded by lively green grass, the building is painted white. At the top, a sign read in capital letters, “POLICE.” The sign is identical to any other police stations on television. Then, at the door, printed in bold and capitalized letters on normal printing paper, a sign read, “THE DOOR WILL AUTOMATICALLY CLOSE.” Everything seemed to be in signs as no one was available to instruct people.

It is my opinion that the lack of security and warning signs overlooked by administration is the chief problem as to how these crimes take place on campuses. Did campus security and school the administrations do enough to keep the students safe? Did fellow classmates and faculty members ignore warning signs of both Whitman and Seung-Hui? And what security changes have been implemented in the event of another unforeseen shooting?

“One in five women are sexually assaulted while in college” (Not Alone, 2014). In our class of twenty women that means that possibly five women have been sexually assaulted. Out of the five women that I stated could have been sexually assaulted they may have known the perpetrator and often will not report what has happened. According to the spring count of students completed by West Chester University, 9,211 of those students were females (“Headcount Enrollment”, 2014). If I go by the statistic mentioned earlier that one in five women is assaulted that would mean that 1,842 women have been sexually assaulted while enrolled at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Out of 1,842 possible assaults only four were reported last year. Two of which the victims knew prior to the assault. Rankin and Associates consulting conducted a Climate Assessment on West Chester University in September of 2010, a section of the results focused on sexual assault on students. According to the report seven people who reported a sexual assault to the university described their reactions to the universities response. Two students shared the way they felt the response was inappropriate or poor. One described that they felt the suspension for one semester was not an appropriate response to an admitted rape, that public safety lost the victims statement, judicial affairs painted the victim offender as innocent, and that the registrar protected the offender putting the victim in harm’s way and everyone

This is really not the solution to the problem but it will make it more dangerous to live in the university serenity than even before the shooting. A concealed permit for carrying guns by the students or other college staff should not be allowed in any manner as it will make way for possibly more violence on the universities and campuses.

Campus security at Louisiana State University of Alexandria is not as good as it should be. LSUA, like most college campuses, is a campus where almost anyone from anywhere can step foot on campus without having to go through any security checks. Someone can easily walk on campus grounds and possibly harm students or faculty. This is a very important issue that LSUA faces daily along with many other colleges and universities around the country. LSUA’s campus police has around 6-7 officers, which isn’t enough to cover most of the campus. Every now and then I see a university police officer patrol the campus streets trying

Third, any campus that does not allow students and faculty to protect themselves, violates their constitutional right to do so and leaves their institution open to litigation in the event that a crime is committed against a student or faculty member while on campus.

(KOAT.com). No university likes to hear bad feedback from the public especially about themselves and this information worried some people, the world as a whole. While some students at UNM refused to believe, Lauren Keller for example stated to KOAT news, “Honestly I don't think so. I walk around UNM by myself, I know I shouldn't but I never feel in danger at all,” (KOAT.com) But at risk or not UNM decided to do something about the students’ safety.

‘Sexual Violence is more than just a crime against individuals. It threatens our families; it threatens our communities. Ultimately, it threatens the entire country’ (qtd. in Burleigh pg. 2). In the article, “Confronting Campus Rape” written by Nina Burleigh; a writer, journalist, and professor at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, describes what students are doing to force universities to take a stronger stand against campus sexual assault. Moreover Burleigh describes what the government is doing to make a difference on the issue. This includes laws that have created consequences for the assaulter and laws that protect the victim. According to Burleigh, a young woman called Laura Dunn was sexually assaulted on campus. Dunn was a student of UW. On April 4th, 2014, Dunn lost her virginity to two UW athletes. That night, Dunn was attending a party at the university. Dunn was enjoying the party and lost count of her alcohol intake. Dunn remembers being led out by two older teammates, who she knew. Dunn was very intoxicated, enough to stumble on her way back to what she thought would be another campus party, as one of the athletes helped her walk. The athletes led Dunn to one of their apartments where she found herself on a bed with both of them on top of her. Dunn was so intoxicated that she couldn’t help but to drift in and out of conscious leaving her unable to stop the two men. Dunn began to feel sick and was led to the bathroom by one of the athletes, where he penetrated her from behind while she was throwing up. That was a date Dunn would never forget. Dunn like many other women at the UW have been sexually abused by other students. Although Dun’s incident is shocking, it is not uncommon for women to be sexually assaulted on campus. A woman at the  university of Wisconsin is more prone to being sexually assaulted than any other woman in the country because of alcohol intoxication; this is a problem that must be resolved.

Next, we had security guards. I don’t really remember exactly how many we had, but they frequented problem areas of the school. The lunchroom was a major problem place, and the surrounding hallways where students would eat and do homework. There would also be security guards that walked around the “unfrequented” parts of the school. The security guards would also go outside and monitor the path, and the students crossing as well. Next, we had a desk at the front of the school with a security guard that doesn’t leave during the day. Vistors were required to sign in and report to the office. For awhile, we had a security guard that went around and looked around the parking lot, looking for suspicious things. Now, there is a van that drives around the parking lot keeping it secure as well. Next, we have to evaluate the potential risks and threats. At Grand Blanc, we didn’t have metal detectors, so being able to slip in with a knife, or something small, like this student did, would be a problem. Also, big bags such as purses, athletic bags and backpacks are problems as well because without metal detectors we do not know what are in the bags. Another potential risk is the unfrequented areas of the school. Even though there are cameras, there are enough cameras that you cant watch every one every time. With the unfrequented areas of the school, a student could create something destructive- it could be a considerable amount of time before someone passes by.

With the recent shooting at the Umpqua Community College in Oregon, security on college campuses has become a major topic. Some campuses have increased their security while others have kept theirs the same. One of these campuses that has kept its security at the status quo is Ohio State University. This amount of security is what Wright State lacks. It is understandable that the size of the campus of Wright State is nowhere near that of Ohio State and that Wright State is near the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, but having only a couple campus police cruisers roaming around campus is not enough to prevent a shooting so there needs to be a greater police presence on campus.

Each school struggles in different ways. Some University’s need improvement in different areas than others. There are many things that are said will be done, but victims and alleged assaulters should not fear that the information that is traveling through the case they are in, will not go any further than who is trying to solve the case in the first place. When Universities tell a victim that the situation will be taken care of, don’t they want to be trusted? Pushing sexual assault cases to the side to keep the University’s reputation in good hands only makes matters worse. Nothing is being learned and sexual assaults are nonetheless continuing to happen. Considering the problems that sexual assault can cause somebody and knowing there is a solution, we must act as a community as soon as

The tragic events at Virginia Tech in April of 2007 and Northern Illinois University in February of 2008 have policymakers, campus officials and citizens looking for solutions to prevent future attacks (Dickerson). Violent shootings that have occurred on a few college campuses in recent years have provoked a debate over