By Liz Ciocher
News Editor
The Signal and Campus Police work together on a weekly basis to inform the campus community about crime on and around campus. All records given to The Signal are public records and do not contain personal information. Some information provided may be triggering for some students.
The following incidents of careless driving, negligent parking and thieving have been reported to Campus Police within the last three weeks. The incidents are listed below chronologically, not in order of relevance.
March 27: Parking lot hit-and-run at fault of faculty
Shortly before 8:30 p.m., a student parked in Lot 18 made a report to Campus Police citing substantial body damage to their vehicle, specifically on the driver’s side headlight and bumper, and an instance of white paint transfer near the damage. The student’s vehicle was driveable, but appeared to be the victim of a hit-and-run car accident.
Campus Police reviewed the parking garage’s security footage and found the student’s car backed in its spot at approximately 7:22 a.m. Later, at approximately 1:07 p.m., a large white pickup truck backed into the neighboring parking spot. The footage then captures the truck attempting to leave the parking spot at 8:09 p.m., but strikes the vehicle during the attempt. The truck then straightened itself out and drove away, leaving the student’s vehicle damaged and unaccounted for.
Campus Police was unable to identify the license plate of the pickup truck from the parking garage security footage, but a plate reader on Green Lane captured the vehicle’s license plate number and confirmed the registration to be to a faculty member. Campus Police called the person connected to the vehicle to advise her that she would be receiving a citation for careless driving in the mail.
April 1: Social Sciences fire alarm
Campus Police was dispatched to the Social Sciences building at approximately 3:16 p.m. after the fire alarm’s strobes and audible alarms were activated. The panel for the building’s fire alarm read the alarms were set off on the second floor men’s restroom. Upon entering, Campus Police and Ewing fire squad recognized a faint smell of marijuana but no sign of fire or smoke. The officials confirmed the building was safe and let the students back in.
April 1: Campus Town gym theft
A student arrived at Campus Police headquarters at approximately 4:50 p.m. to file a personal theft report. According to the student, he arrived at the Campus Town gym earlier that day at approximately 3 p.m. and put his belongings, including a wallet and backpack, in an unlocked locker in the gym’s locker room. The student returned to his residence at 4:30 p.m. to find cash and a gift card stolen from his wallet.
While the student’s other belongings were untouched, a $100 bill, two $20 bills, and three $10 bills were stolen from his wallet, equating to a total of $170 stolen. The missing gift card was issued to Starbucks, but the student did not believe there were any funds remaining on the card. Campus Police issued the student a case number for the incident.
April 4: Lot 3 gets two of the same boots
In a routine 3:00 a.m. parking check, Campus Police officials issued two parking boots on two different vehicles for outstanding parking tickets in Lot 3. Both vehicles had three unpaid tickets for parking without a permit, resulting in a fine of $150, and were thereby eligible to be issued a fourth ticket and a parking boot. Along with the fourth ticket and the parking boot, both vehicles were issued boot removal tickets, bringing both vehicle’s outstanding ticket count to five and a new total of $250.
