South Carolina State's campus police are investigating a string of burglaries at the Andrew Hugine Jr. Suites and the University Village apartments during the Thanksgiving break. A total of 12 burglaries have been recorded by campus police officials and paperwork for the remainder is being filed.

Campus Police Chief Gregory C. Harris said the city of Orangeburg on the whole was affected by a high rate of burglaries during the break.

scsu.edu

Chief Gregory C. Harris

The burglars removed items which the students said were "packed away" in their rooms while they were on break.

In a telephone interview with The Collegian, S.C. State's chief of police said they do not rule out anyone as suspects in this type of investigation, even S.C. State staff members who may have keys to these apartments. "You don't have to have a key to gain entry to the bedrooms," Harris said. The police chief indicated that once initial entry is made, the locks to the room doors are easier to pick than the suite doors. Harris also said that in his opinion, the room doors should be replaced with sturdier doors.

In a Collegian survey conducted in October, 34.5 percent of S.C. State students surveyed said they felt safe on campus, 49 percent were neutral and 16.5 selected the unsafe or very unsafe option.

"The police take their job too lightly," said a freshman Battiste Hall Resident who declined to give her name. "They usually don't take action; it's basically a waste of time to call the police.

Another freshman from Hugine Suites who declined to give her name aid " This campus is not safe at all; since attending this university, I have had two confrontations with sexual harassment."

scsu.edu

Andrew Hugine Jr. Suites

Other universities in S.C. also reported alarming crime statistics including Benedict College which had 129 burglaries, 9 robberies and 10 incidents of arson. Benedict College has a student population of 2,769; almost half of S.C. State's. N.C. Central University's 39 robberies also expose the prevalence of campus crime as well as their eight reports of motor vehicle theft, two forcible sex offenses, 10 aggravated assaults and four robberies.

Campus police departments are required to make these records public in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Act. This act is named after 19 year old Lehigh University freshman Jeanne Ann Clery who was raped and murdered while asleep in her residence hall room on April 5, 1986. Jeanne's parents, discovered that students hadn't been told about 38 violent crimes on the Lehigh campus in the three years before her murder. They joined with other campus crime victims and persuaded Congress to enact this law.

To limit these incidents from occurring, Harris said that students must keep their windows and doors locked at all times and is urging them to move all valuable belongings to safe storage or keep it in their car trunks when leaving campus. Insurance, which the chief said is available from Residence Life and Housing, was another recommendation made. This insurance he said will allow students to be reimbursed for all of their belongings at a small cost.

Harris said law enforcement is currently reviewing surveillance tapes, continuing to promote crime prevention techniques, as well as continuous crime detection training for police officers so that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Dervedia Thomas is editor in chief of The Collegian, the Southern Carolina State University student newspaper, which originally published this article.