Campus Watch: Below is a summary of campus activity reported to or observed by The University Police Department Patrol Officers between Wednesday, 03/30/16 and Thursday, 03/31/16. Residential Safety and Security Tips I have been thinking it has been some time since we provided any general safety and security tips for your residence and it is time we changed that: - Most burglars make entry into a home to commit a burglary through an unsecured or open door or window. To keep you and your property safe, always keep the doors and windows to your residence closed and locked (even when you are at home). Don't just rely on the knob lock on a door or a window lock. Always use the deadbolt locks on your doors and consider using a secondary rail lock for your windows. - Burglars typically do not like to break into an occupied house or apartment. To that end, do something to make your home look like it is occupied; even when you are away. There are a multitude of programs and applications that let you control your home's lights, televisions etc. If your house isn't equipped with such technology and you do not want to make it that way, you can go old school with a few timers. The UT Police Department will loan you one of these timers free of charge. These timers simply turn your electrical devices on and off based on a schedule. - Burglars normally sell whatever they steal as soon as they can. Make it more difficult to the thief to sell your property. You can do this by marking your property with your state issued driver's license number (not your name and driver's license number – just your driver's license number i.e. TX01234567). To mark your property you can borrow an electric engraver free of charge from the UT Police Department or UT Residence Hall Front Desk. If you would prefer, organize a meeting time at your apartment, residence hall, Co-Op, student organization house and we will come out with multiple engravers and have an engraving party. - If you don't already keep your valuables in a safe, consider getting a safe for your valuables and important documents. - Consider making an interior room in your house or apartment a “safe roomâ€. This is not as complex as you might think. Pick a room with a solid core door, install a secondary deadbolt lock with a reinforced latch or even use a simple Charlie Bar to brace the door. Keep an old cell phone in the room with a charger so you can call for help if needed. - When you are at home, keep the blinds completely closed and curtains drawn. This is particularly important for ground floor rooms. At night, you typically have your light on in the room which makes it difficult to see outside. Voyeurs use this to their advantage to sneak a peek and not be seen. - Be a good neighbor. If you don't know your neighbor's name and they don't know yours, change that. When an opportunity presents itself to meet them do so. Neighborhoods are safer when neighbors know each other and watch out for each other. If you are aware of suspicious activity in your neighborhood, share it with other neighbors. The more people who know about suspicious or criminal activity the harder it is for the person responsible to get away with it undetected. GREGORY GYMNASIUM, 2101 Speedway Theft: A forest green backpack with a purple stain was stolen from inside a prayer tent located on the west side of the gymnasium. At the time of the theft, the backpack contained a silver colored MacBook Air laptop computer. Loss value: $1,010.00. Occurred on 03/30/16 between 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. HOMER RAINEY HALL, 200 West 21st Street Harassment: A UT faculty member reported receiving e-card communications from a former classmate at a university in another state. The communications were sent after the faculty member directed the former classmate to cease all communications. Reported on 03/30/16 at 11:00 a.m. JESTER WEST, 201 East 21st Street Theft: A gold and black colored Huffy bicycle was stolen while it was secured with a cable lock to the bicycle racks located on the west side of the residence hall. Loss value: $100.00. Occurred between 03/29/16 at 9:00 p.m. and 03/30/16 at 4:00 a.m. PERRY-CASTAÑEDA LIBRARY, 101 East 21st Street Theft: An orange colored Nike backpack containing a set of keys, two books, and an empty iPad case was stolen after it was left at a study cubicle located on the 6th floor of the library. The owner left the backpack to retrieve a book from a near-by book shelve. The owner described a suspicious subject walking around the study cubicle as a white male who was approximately 6' tall with brown hair and a “scruffy†appearance. The officer conducted a search of the library and found the backpack and its contents under a different 6th floor cubicle. The backpack contained all of its contents. A witness described the subject who left backpack at that cubicle as a white male with brown hair. Recovery value: $200.00. Occurred on 03/31/16 between 1:15 a.m. and 1:34 a.m. TOWNES HALL, 727 East Dean Keeton Theft: A grey and green colored North Face backpack, containing a MacBook Pro laptop computer, various textbooks, and Wells Fargo checkbooks, was stolen after the owner left it on the floor in the main lobby. Loss value: $1,475.00. Occurred on 03/30/16 between 2:07 p.m. and 2:10 p.m. (This is 2 minutes and 57 seconds more time than a thief needs to commit this type of theft). 2200 Guadalupe Possession of Dangerous Drug: A non-UT subject was observed smoking a hand rolled cigar on the side of the road. As UT police officers approached, the subject promptly concealed the cigar prior to dropping it on the ground. Once the cigar hit the pavement, the subject began to use his foot to grind the cigar into the cement. When asked what was in the cigar, the subject stated he did not know. With the application of a drug test kit, the contents of the cigar were known to be the synthetic cannabinoid, K2. Occurred on 03/30/16 at 10:16 a.m. UNIVERSITY POLICE BUILDING, 2201 Robert Dedman Fraud: A UT student came to the UT Police Building to report being the victim of a scam. The student advised she received a phone call from someone claiming to be with UT Student Affairs. The caller advised the student she owed $1,365.00 and would be arrested if she did not pay the debt immediately. While on the phone, the student received another call from a subject claiming to be with a law enforcement agency. That caller demanded she set-up a conference call between the three of them. While on conference call, the callers demanded the student go to a local Wal-Mart and purchase a money gram. Fearing arrest, the student complied and sent a money gram to a subject located in another state. Occurred on 03/30/16 at 12 noon. The University of Texas Police Department responded to 20 Alarm Reports, 1 Fire Alarm Activation, 1 “Police Help Callbox Activation, 13 Traffic Violations, 2 Motor Vehicle Collisions, 9 Suspicious Activity Reports, 3 Welfare Concern Reports, and 8 Public Assist Requests between 03/30/16 and 03/31/16. Prepared by: Ofc. WR Ï€/ To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.utexas.edu/police/campuswatch/subscribe.php/
