Campus Police arrested non-student Davon Chadewick White on Dec. 20 for the breaking and entering eight rooms in Bragaw Residence Hall early morning Dec. 19.
According to Capt. Jon Barnwell, the patrol division commander for Campus Police, White, who is expected to be charged in connection with at least two other thefts outside the University, gained entry to the dorms just after the start of winter break by breaking the window of the exterior door of the suite and entering through unlocked windows.
According to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Education, burglaries in on-campus housing have significantly dropped from 16 occurrences in 2008 to seven in 2009.
However, Rhonda Lemon, a sophomore in mechanical engineering and Bragaw resident, said she is concerned because the University never informed her of these thefts.
“Last year a friend of mine’s room got broken into in Lee. They were of course informed, but I heard nothing about it, even though I lived only two suites over. People need to be aware of incidents like this,” said Lemon. “I wish I had.”
According to Susan Grant, director of University Housing, it is standard procedure to inform the students directly involved and then focus on addressing security issues at hall floor meetings.
“Once we discovered the thefts, the students who were impacted were contacted, and we plan to talk about this and safety measures at floor meetings” said Grant. “This is an open campus. If someone is going to break a window, then they are going to break a window, but the real problem is that students are not taking every precaution to keep their stuff safe, including basic things like locking their windows.”
Capt. Barnwell also said Campus Police plans to continue to educated students and staff about the importance of doing everything possible to keep themselves, and their belongings, safe.
“We are looking into an ongoing process of educating University Housing and students on how to prevent this from happening again,” said Barnwell. “The biggest thing is while these break-ins are rare, they do occur from time to time, and the best thing is to encourage people to lock their windows, doors, and exterior doors as well as taking home any expensive items, especially electronics, when they go on break.”
These procedures, along with other safety measures such as the patrolling of the dorms during break by resident advisors, make up a large part of how University Housing works to keep the dorms, and their occupants, safe, according to Grant.
”University Housing and its employees, such as resident advisors, encourage students to take home their expensive belongings,” said Grant. “We also always give students a check-out list before break that includes many safety precautions.”
According to Barnwell, there are also multiple ways for students to prevent non-residents from accessing their rooms and belongings.
“The security we have on campus ensures that the residence halls are really safe, but I think our campus can improve in safety is concerning protocol,” said Barnwell. “For instance, report anything or anyone suspicious you see hanging around the dorms, and don’t let people ‘piggyback’ behind you when you enter the dorm.”
Barnwell also said the residence halls on campus are safe, and this safety is in part due to the cooperation and support students have given this educational process in the past.
“I absolutely believe the residence halls are safe, and we really appreciate the continued partnership between the campus community and Campus Police,” said Barnwell. “Students have consistently been very helpful with trying to help us maintain a safer campus environment. These are unfortunate incidences, but my advice to students is to just be vigilant when it comes to safety.”
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