Campus police: most crime not on campus
By Kristen Hoverman
The Collegian
While Fresno State has seen
a drop in campus crime over the past few years, much of the crime that
remains either is due to alcohol or comes from the area surrounding campus,
university police said.
“A lot of the crime is from the outer limits of Fresno State,”
Sergeant Dale Badorine said. “We’re trying to keep crime from
coming on to campus and keep people safe.”
Officers are working with Stone Soup soup kitchen, apartment owners, fraternities
and people from the university to address the problem areas on and around
campus.
“Communication will keep this campus safe,” Badorine said.
“There are few of us and thousands of students and faculty. That
means tens of thousands of eyes and ears.”
Alcohol is one of the biggest problems on campus.
“A lot of the crime that we’re seeing is people intoxicated
and making bad decisions,” Badorine said. “We’re not
saying don’t have fun, but be respectful.”
UPD has teamed up with Alcohol Beverage Control and the Fresno Police
Department to reduce the number of incidents.
“We have directed patrols in high-alcohol-use areas around campus,”
Badorine said. “The most prevalent areas are Fraternity Row, Shaw,
Millbrook, Bulldog Lane and liquor stores.”
According to UPD statistics on arrests made from 2002 to 2004, the number
of arrests has gone down. In 2004 there were 16 felony arrests, 155 misdemeanor
arrests and seven warrant arrests for a total of 178 arrests.
This is a drop from the arrests made in 2002 and 2003. In 2003 there were
26 felony arrests, 182 misdemeanor arrests and 17 warrant arrests for
a total of 225 arrests made.
“We’re doing things proactively,” Badorine said. “We’re
trying to keep everybody safe. You have to educate and enforce the law
to do that. We need people to help.”
Over the past few years UPD has been dealing with officers moving and
being hired by other agencies, Badorine said.
The UPD is understaffed with 15 in the department: the chief, two lieutenants,
four sergeants, two corporals and six officers.
“We have openings for five officers,” Badorine said. “We
would like to have them by the end of the year.”
Badorine said he has been working for UPD for 15 months.
“When you lack the personnel to keep crime at bay, crime goes up,”
Badorine said. “We don’t want people coming in thinking we’re
easy targets.”
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