2008 Woodie Awards
Miami issues 2 crime alerts during 3rd week of classes
Caroline Briggs
Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: Front Page
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Miami University Communications, in conjunction with the Miami University Police Department (MUPD), announced this academic year's first Campus Crime Alert at noon Tuesday. The reason behind this alert was an on-campus burglary.
According to police reports, two males entered a female student's room in Anderson Residence Hall at approximately 5 a.m. Monday morning.
According to a witness on the scene, two white males were seen outside other resident rooms carrying an object between them.
The witnesses described the two suspects as white males wearing knee-length khaki shorts and no shirts, and they were identified between 19 and 20 years old. The first male was taller with short, dark hair and tan skin. The second male was described as medium in height with short, dirty-blond hair.
The victim of the burglary reported that an hour after the witness saw the suspects, she entered her room to find it disturbed-with an LCD television, a digital camera and a messenger bag missing.
The two males were reportedly last seen heading toward Oak Street from Anderson Hall.
Lt. Andrew Powers of MUPD said that his department is relying on students who received the alert e-mail to turn in more information about the case.
"We are looking for individuals who are acting suspiciously," Powers said. "Hopefully (students) will be looking out for (suspicious activity), like someone they know who is in possession of something they didn't have before."
Powers also cited that theft is the most common crime on Miami's campus, but this case is more serious than other cases involving a victim's carelessness.
"This is much more serious than a crime of opportunity," Powers said. "This was a deliberate break-in in a residential space. (MUPD) believes that it is important to inform the community that these suspects have not been caught."
Carole Johnson at Miami's Office of News and Public Information agreed that alerting the Oxford community is the first step in a case like this that has little information for leads.
"The Campus Crime Alert System serves as a way for the university to communicate safety concerns to our campus community," Johnson said. "Any information students have should be directed to MUPD."
Johnson also added that the Campus Crime Alert bulletin is e-mailed to students, faculty, and staff as well as posted on the Miami Web site so it may be easily seen and accessed.
String of off-campus break-ins see theft of stolen electronics
Miami University released its second Campus Crime Alert of the semester Thursday regarding a slew of recent break-ins at four off-campus residences and one vehicle-all on the south side of High Street.
All happening between Aug. 19 and Sept. 3, the burglary cases involved stolen electronic equipment taken from the houses via an unlocked door. In most of the police reports, residents were home during the burglaries and were in close proximity of the burglars, though no physical encounter or description has been identified.
Sgt. Jim Squance of the Oxford Police Department (OPD) explained that none of the burglaries were forced entries, but that burglars had entered through unlocked doors on the premises.
"It appears that this weekend gave the opportunity for several people to make easy scores," Squance said. "We have cases with the opportunity of an unlocked door. As long as this continues to happen, there are people who will prey upon these individuals."
One victim was Miami senior Audry Kensicki, who lives at 621 S. College Street, and who was unwittingly in the same room as the individual who took her laptop and charge card. According to Kensicki, she had to gone to sleep at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday morning, when she experienced someone walking into her room, turning on the light and then shutting the door again. She said she then heard the front door shut downstairs and assumed that it was her friend who was staying with her locking the doors of the residence.
When Kensicki awoke, she found that her things that were close to her bed were missing. She said she called her friend who had stayed the night before to ask where her belongings were. According to the report, Kensicki realized that her possessions had been stolen by 11 a.m. Sunday morning.
"What freaked me out the worst was that someone could see me sleeping and still come in the room," Kensicki said. "There is such a risk of the person waking up … It seemed that it was the one night that we didn't make sure the house was secure, too."
Likewise, Miami senior Erin Brown, located on 711 S. Oak Street, also had a close encounter with separate burglars Aug. 19. She said she fell asleep around 4 a.m. with the house lights on and her cell phone by her on a table, but when she woke up at around 7 a.m., her cell phone was gone.
"I was worried that they watched me fall asleep," Brown said. "How else would they know it was clear to come in?"
Besides the phone, the burglars also took two Macintosh computers, two iPods, a digital camera, an iHome iPod appliance and a bike. Brown said that her roommate's keys had been placed in Brown's purse after the burglars had obviously gone through the car, purse and Brown's wallet. However, she said the cash in her wallet along with her credit cards were left untouched.
Brown's house is also very close to Anderson Hall, which is the location of this week's first Campus Crime Alert, where burglars stole electronics early Monday morning.
However, not included in the second Campus Crime Alert was junior Daniel Shea, who lives on West Collins Street. Shea had his laptop stolen in the early morning hours Monday while a roommate slept in the unlocked house.
"The weirdest part is that it was taken from my room which is the farthest from the front door," Shea said. "There were a lot of other things that were easier to take. My iPod was right next to the computer."
Miami graduate student Stephanie Rogers was the only vehicular break-in of the weekend. Her car was parked across from the UDF on South Beech Street overnight Saturday. When she returned Sunday afternoon, her schoolbooks, laptop computer, school supplies, two iPods and fitness clothes were all missing. She is trying to recover from the robbery this week.
"I am pretty much looking for a job right now," Rogers said. "I haven't bought anything back but the bare necessities. Now my whole car is cleaned out, and I always put things in the trunk."
The robbery totals in the Campus Crime Alert plus the burglary on West Collins Street comes to eight laptop computers, five iPods, three cameras, a cell phone, a Sony PlayStation and a credit card, along with numerous other valuables of the victims.
Squance said that OPD is doing their best to track the cases and are currently using various secretive investigation techniques to gain a lead on the burglars.
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