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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Crime Graphic

Staff editorial: Public Safety: do your job

AU police need to keep students informed about their safety

Since mid-January, the AU neighborhood has seen a rise in crime with nine robberies in the areas near campus, six of which were armed. AU’s police department sent timely alerts to the campus body for four of these crimes, which occurred on Jan. 16 and the night of Feb. 24.

AU police, however, chose not to send an alert for an armed robbery on Feb. 22 that occurred in front of the Avalon at Foxhall apartment building. AU students were left in the dark about a dangerous crime that occurred in an area less than a mile from campus where a sizable portion of the AU community lives. For a department that “considers the safety and security of its students...its highest priority,” The Eagle was concerned to learn that AU police did not believe such an incident, or the other five robberies for which students were not made aware of until a safety advisory was sent on Feb. 23, did not warrant a timely alert.

While we understand that AU police are not required to issue timely alerts for crimes that occur off-campus, as they do not fall under the University’s jurisdiction, we do not understand the decision making used by campus police when choosing to send alerts for off-campus incidents. In particular, we are perplexed as to why campus police chose to send an alert for the Jan. 16 robberies but not the Feb. 22 robbery, when both crimes occurred less than a mile from campus, involved weapons and endangered students.

AU’s assumption of units in the Berkshire apartment building as official off-campus student housing makes the Avalon at Foxhall apartment building more than reasonably within the “AU area.” And so, we ask again: where was the timely alert on Feb. 22? If AU equally and eagerly accepts students’ money every semester, is it unreasonable to expect the University to demonstrate that they care equally about all students’ safety regardless of their residence during the semester?

Further, we are concerned that the University waited until after seven separate crime incidents occurred to send a safety advisory to students warning them of the trend and offering safety tips. Many AU students live and work off-campus and must walk at night, meaning that such information is pertinent to their safety.

We hope to see AU police take a more proactive approach to warning students of all dangerous crimes that occur near campus in a timely manner immediately after they happen, instead of waiting until a trend has already formed. Students rely on Public Safety officials for information regarding their security, and at a time when multiple students have been the victims of these crimes, we ask that AU police take this task seriously.

Put simply, if the AU police department can find the time to notify the campus community about Ollie the bobcat, then it can certainly take the time to alert AU students about threats to their immediate safety. No more fluff answers. No more disingenuous spiels to incoming freshmen students about the AU alert system. For all of the students, parents and alumni who put their faith in AU to keep us safe, we need campus police to do their jobs.

edpage@theeagleonline.com


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