RUPD reminds students to be cautious with belongings

By Cindy Dinh     8/27/09 7:00pm

In the first few weeks back at school, new classes, friends and social gatherings are most students' top priorities. However, safety and crime prevention should also be on top of the list. The first six weeks of the school year are when students, especially freshmen, are most vulnerable to crime and personal theft, Rice University Police Department Chief of Police Bill Taylor said, adding that this pattern applies to college campuses nationwide."First-year students are the most vulnerable, since they're distracted by social gatherings, classes and situations that they have not dealt with before," Taylor said. "When students come back to school they may be unfamiliar with their surroundings and don't pay enough attention to what they do with their personal property, [such as] new bikes, laptops and iPods."

This semester RUPD officers will be at each college for Operation ID to mark and catalog students' valuables as well as register bicycles. In this two-pronged process, students will receive an inventory sheet to list all of their valuables and personal property and engrave these items with a unique identification number. "When you engrave, it devalues the property for someone who takes possession of it [the item]," Taylor said. "It also makes it more identifiable so someone with the same laptop will know which one is theirs."

An e-mail sent to all departments last Friday from RUPD Captain Dianna Marshall detailed one burglary incident. A new laptop was stolen from the backseat of a locked car after the student left the car for only four minutes, she said. In order to prevent unnecessary theft and personal injury, Taylor said he recommends that people not leave valuable items out of sight and to always lock car and dorm room doors whenever their inhabitants are gone.

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The e-mail also listed tips on parking lot and personal safety. This includes placing valuables away from view under car seats or in the trunk, locking vehicles, having car keys in hand and using the escort service whenever necessary. RUPD runs an escort service at night from 10 p.m.-5 a.m., going to and from any location on campus, including colleges, parking lots, the BioScience Research Collaborative and the off-campus graduate apartments.

Marshall also recommended people be alert to their surroundings when walking and use sidewalks, preferably in well-lit areas and with friends, and especially at night. In case someone feels uneasy or thinks they are being followed, Marshall encouraged students to head to populated places and call the police. Anyone can contact RUPD by picking up elevator phones, blue campus emergency phones or dialing ext. 6000. If off campus, dial 911.

While it was too early to tell if there was an increase in crime as compared to past years, Taylor said campuses like Rice tend to have less victimization by students and the incidents this year were not significant in number. He added that they can all be preventable with more personal awareness and discretion.

"The first line of security for personal property is for the person owning property to take measures on their own," Taylor said.

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