On Jan. 3, Campus Safety reported six incidents of crime, including three instances of drug and/or alcohol abuse and an armed robbery. Sgt. James Johnston, community partnerships and training coordinator for Campus Safety, provided some insight into the slight jump in crime, starting with the armed robbery which occurred on South Williams Sreet, for which students received a DU Alert notification.
“That incident is being investigated entirely by DPD. We’re not helping their investigation because it occurred off campus, but we’re providing support to the victims through the university and we’re trying to review some camera footage. Denver Police Department is looking into those individuals possibly being linked to other robberies in the city,” said Johnston.
The incident is still under investigation. According to Johnston, all four victims were students and there is no ongoing threat for the DU community.
“Robberies have been occurring and increasing in Denver,” said Johnston, about the recent trend. The DU campus is no exception from that, especially considering that District Three (the district in which DU resides) reported 150 robberies in 2015, not including December. However, he reported that DU typically experiences one armed robbery per year, the exception being Nov. 2014, when repeated robberies occurred on campus. DPD is currently attempting to reduce armed robbery occurrences across the city.
“People may have also noted the delay in the DU Alert. Because this incident occurred off campus, it was reported to DPD and not to us, so the responsibility falls on DPD to notify us. As soon as they did reach us, it had already been an hour, so we took the time—half an hour—to craft a good message,” said Johnston.
Typically, Campus Safety sends out an alert immediately after a potential threat to the DU community before sending details in a second message. Johnston reported that Campus Safety made the decision to go directly to the second step given the delay in information and the knowledge that the perpetrators had already left campus.
Aside from the armed robbery, there was also a fire alarm activation, a theft that occurred sometime during winter break and three instances of drug and/or alcohol abuse reported on Jan. 3.
“We see a little uptick in [drug and/or alcohol abuse] in winter quarter when everyone first comes back because, especially with first-year students, when they come back from winter break, they have their friends. Classes haven’t started yet. So, they use that time to socialize,” said Johnston. He reported that no students had been taken off of campus on Jan. 3 for alcohol or drug abuse. January also has the highest reports for possession of drug paraphernalia, which also coincides with the weather and the likelihood of students leaving dorms to consume marijuana. However, DU has experienced an 80 percent decrease in drug use on campus from 2014 to 2015 (not including December), according to Johnston.
For more information about Campus Safety and Safety Education resources, visit the Campus Safety website or follow them via Twitter or Facebook.
