Clue up on crime: police safety day visits campus

Last Monday, 20 June a ‘Police Safety Day’ was held on campus, a joint initiative between Warwickshire and West Midlands Police aiming to help students prevent exposing themselves to crime.

The event which was held on the piazza and was staffed by current off-duty police officers from both forces, comprised of a mixture of interactive demonstrations such as a coordination test simulating drunkenness and free personal advice on how to secure student property against burglars.

One of the event coordinators and Warwickshire Community Safety Advisor Pete Sturgeon described its main purposes as “informing students about personal security” and alerting them to the risks posed when moving off-campus when “the security of your belongings is often the last thing you want to think about.”

On-campus police constable Mick Price joined Sturgeon in trying to highlight the severity of this issue. “I can’t comment on other areas”, he said, “but we have very good security on campus. Students tend to leave all their doors and windows open. Criminals aren’t targeting students as such, but students do give them more opportunities of entering.”

The principle scheme being advertised to students, should the worst happen, was an immobilisation website simply called registermythings.co.uk which makes returning of retrieved stolen property far easier for students and police alike. Sturgeon advised students who do use this service to register property to the family home address as they “move from house to house regularly.”

Whereas the beer goggles were getting good use as a novelty feeder into the event by explaining how vulnerable alcohol can make a person, the stand offering free pamphlets on a host of security issues was less inundated. Serving officer in Warwickshire Police Jessica West admitted “fresher’s week is a better time of year for this kind of thing.”

The tone of this Safety Day was very different from that held during fresher’s week and at Christmas, when the initiative promises to return for the next academic year. International Business student Carolina Garcia blamed the student apathy. “I don’t see a lot of involvement”, she said “but I guess students don’t want to find out about these issues.”

Crime in the local area was certainly a prime area of discussion during the day. PC Price said that there had only been one burglary on campus since October,
which ended in the capture of the offenders and the return of the stolen property. Yet speaking to students who had not attended the event there was a different opinion. First-year History and Politics student Louis Smith said “I know a friend who got a laptop stolen from his accommodation [on campus]. He didn’t get it back.”

Furthermore, it seemed that Coventry suffers from an image problem and badmouthing among the student community, in comparison with Leamington. PC West said that Leamington can be “just as violent” as Coventry on a standard night out and her colleague at the event, PC Joe Holland of Coventry Police, said “It just depends who’s out of prison at the time” when it comes to crime proclivity. Leamington was mainly popular due to its aesthetic appeal and better nightlife, and less down to its crime rate.

In the recent crime statistics for each area, as featured previously in the _Boar_, Leamington has lower, but not substantially lower, crime figures in student-friendly areas. Last year, the Earlsdon area of Coventry recorded 42 burglaries compared to 52 in Leamington. Yet these statistics have done little to quash fears about living in the larger city.

First-year Politics and International Studies student Lynn Ullberg-Anderson explained why she had anxiety due to living in Coventry. “A house a few doors down got set on fire and a person got stabbed in our street – so that was pretty scary.”

Overall, the ‘Police Safety Day’ got a much better reception from those living off-campus passing by as opposed to those living in campus accommodation and with easy access to the information available.