Campus Safety is adding about 2,500 new recruits to help fight crime on campus, at least for one night.
The department and Ty Mills, interim director of Campus Safety, are hosting a Safety Walk on Oct. 22.
Mills wants students, faculty and staff to join him in a walk around campus to help point out security problems. The walk starts at 7 p.m. at the Campus Safety building, located at 2200 S. Gaylord St. Mills said the walk will consist of identifying certain spots on campus that might need revamped security. These areas include pathways that have poor lighting or do not have access to an emergency phone. Participants will also check that all 32 emergency phones are working.
Mills wants and encourages all students to attend and voice their concerns. The walk will help Campus Safety officers know, from a student perspective, what areas pose a threat and how they can be fixed. Campus Safety officers will also be present to work with students on crime prevention.
One unsolved crime is the numerous reports of a runaway flasher. On Sept. 17 a female student reported that she observed a male peeping through the basement window of her Delta Zeta sorority house. When she went outside to investigate she encountered a nude male. The department is continuing to investigate the incident and is looking for 18-22-year-old, 6-foot-tall, Caucasian male. Two other reports were filed with Campus Safety and with the Denver Police regarding an adult male who has been exposing himself. The man exposed himself outside of the Rick’s Center on Sept. 13 and outside of a student’s apartment in La Chateau on Sept. 17.
Mills said flashers are common on college campuses.
“It’s typical at DU,” Mills said. “College campuses are probably magnets for these types of demented people.”
Campus Safety advises students to be alert of their surroundings, report any suspicious activity and to never open the door to strangers. All suspected crimes should also be reported.
A string of stolen car radios also plagued Campus Safety two weeks ago during a Mana concert at the Ritchie Center.
On Sept. 29, at about 10:10 p.m., a concert attendee reported his car radio and camera stolen from his vehicle while it was parked in Lot T, under the Tennis Pavilion. A few minutes later, two more concert attendees reported their car radios and personal property stolen from their vehicles. Both cars were also parked in Lot T. Campus Safety responded to all three incidents and advised the attendees to file a report with the Denver Police Department. According to Campus Safety statistics, there have been 56 burglaries and four motor vehicle thefts this year.
Mills said the burglaries might have been connected with the concert.
“Certainly in the future we will increase patrol when large concerts take place at the Ritchie Center,” Mills said.
Campus Safety also increases the number of officers on patrol during Thursday through Sunday, the days with the highest crime occurrences.
Since classes began, Campus Safety has responded to 10 disorderly conduct cases that arose from off-campus parties during the weekend. Mills said Campus Safety will work with Denver Police to break up disturbances and keep property damage from occurring at these parties.
DU cracked down on off-campus parties when neighbors increased their complaints of vandalism and loud parties. For those students causing disturbances Denver Police can issue citations and those caught can get into serious trouble with the university.
The number of vandalism occurrences increased from 65 reports last year to 83.
