More than 40 laptops have been stolen on campus this academic year.
This is certainly a disturbing trend. However, The Eagle is equally concerned with Public Safety’s response, which betrays the department’s passive approach to alerting students to trends in on-campus crime.
The logic should be clear: If students are alerted to on-campus crime through as many avenues of communication as possible, more students will take precautions. And with more precautions comes less crime.
We wish we could say that our report on these thefts was generated by the administration, and that Public Safety officials who saw a clear crime trend felt compelled to alert the student body through all avenues of communication available.
After all, when pulling access to the police blotter, Public Safety said it would inform students and The Eagle of all campus threats, disturbances and crime trends.
But this story came from the very students whose laptops were stolen.
It was only after The Eagle requested more information that Public Safety acknowledged the trend of thefts.
Even then, the department refused to provide any more detailed information on the crimes, even basic facts such as when and where they occurred. Nevertheless, Public Safety described these requests for facts on the ongoing investigation to be “not pertinent.”
Those needing new laptops may disagree with that characterization.
Admittedly, Public Safety has issued three crime alerts about laptop thefts — two in November and one in January — to the AU community, which get posted in public places like dorms.
Some may argue that this should be enough warning for the student body.
Is Public Safety really obligated to do more?
Legally, perhaps not. But as students, AU is our home. We have a right to feel as safe and aware of crime here as we do when we sleep in our parents’ homes.
A warning consisting of a few posters and a sparse crime log does not adhere to the standard of excellence to which AU should be held. More can - and should - be done.
It is perplexing that Public Safety refuses to take advantage of The Eagle and other campus news outlets to increase campus awareness of crime. We’ve written here before that the police blotter previously offered AU students this information in a readily accessible manner, and we continue to lobby for its reinstatement.
Blotter aside, simply proactively providing campus new sources with all relevant information concerning disturbances could provide students with more opportunities to protect themselves. Yet Public Safety has refused to do even this.
There is a puzzling arrogance in Public Safety’s insistence to control the campus’s access to information.
The department assumes that its position of authority entitles it to determine what students need to know. And it appears Public Safety didn’t consider that on-campus residents might want to be alerted of nearby thefts in their dorms or on their floors through all means of communication.
40 laptop thefts later, we can all acknowledge one thing: This “we know best” attitude is unfounded, and students are suffering for it.
Public Safety can easily fix this lack of transparency by opening up access to information concerning on-campus crime. The current reliance on the crime log and poster alerts leaves much to be desired.
We urge Public Safety to be more proactive and to strive to inform the AU community of crime beyond the legally required minimum.
