Stats show burglary increase for 2010

Crime statistics from 2010 released by the University Police Department last month show a slight increase in burglary arrests at A&M-Commerce.

There were 21 arrests made for burglary last year, 17 of which occurred in Residence halls, compared to 19 in 2009.

"By far, what we deal with most will be property crimes like thefts," Lt. Jason Bone of UPD said. "That's what we deal with more than anything: thefts and burglaries."

Eight of the 21 burglary arrests occurred from incidents at Whitley Hall. Calls to Whitley Hall Director Gwenn Young were not returned as of press time; however, Smith Hall Director Jessica Gamez, who has previously worked at Whitley as well as New Pride, said Residential Life makes an effort to help students prevent theft on their own.

"We encourage residents to keep their rooms locked at all times, not to let people borrow their keys, not to let strangers walk into the building behind them after they slide their cards at the doors, and to make sure they register all of their expensive items," she said.

Bone said part of UPD's prevention efforts is to get students to register their items so they can be identified.

"We have been doing a lot of crime prevention type programs where we are encouraging people to write down their serial numbers, make and models of their electronic devices," Bone said. "We actually have some brochures you can download over the Internet or you can get them up front. Now, that doesn't prevent something from getting stolen, but it helps us get it back much quicker."

There was also a drop in the amount of liquor law and drug law arrests from 2009 to 2010. Gamez said hall directors and RAs try to prevent these crimes by appealing directly to residents.

"We set a good foundation at the beginning of the semester during floor meetings and one-on-one conversations," she said. "With the residents, we let them know we have a zero tolerance policy for drugs in the building and under-aged drinking/irresponsible drinking."

RAs conduct regular room inspections to deal with health and safety matters and are trained to identify potential hazards in the rooms; however, Gamez said they are not told to search for any illegal substances, as that is a duty for UPD.

"We don't train our RAs to be police officer's; that's not their job," she said. "We are not out there looking for drug paraphernalia or anything like that. We teach them to do a good sweep of the entire room, but we are not opening anything. We are not the police; we are here to support the residents, to be mentors and friends."