[FlamingCobra]

Reported Offense: On 06/11/2012 at approximately 1:15 am, a female student was robbed of her personal property at knife point by an unidentified male subject described below. The incident happened along Western Blvd. in front of the Naval Reserve Center. The victim did not call the Raleigh Police Department to report the incident until approximately 3:11 pm on 06/11/2012. The victim was not injured and the subject fled the scene northwest toward NC State University.

The suspect is described as a light complexion male wearing a dark colored zip up hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath, faded blue jeans and white shoes. The male suspect was between 30 - 40 yoa, 6'00" - 6'02" in height, bald with no facial hair. the suspect fled northwest towards campus. The Raleigh Police Department is investigating.

Contact NC State University Campus Police at 919-515-3000 or the Raleigh Police Department 919-829-1911 if you have any information that will help with this case . In case of an emergency, dial 911.

Safety Tips:

•Always walk in well-lighted areas at night.
•Don't walk alone after hours, use the Safety Escort at (919) 515-3000
•Report suspicious activity to the Police immediately
•Don't walk distracted (i.e. texting or talking on the phone)

In compliance with the Timely Notice provisions of the Federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus crime Statistics Act of 1998, Campus Police are giving notice of a disturbing act of violence. Please share the information contained in this crime warning with other people on campus who may not have seen it.


DATE: June 27, 2012 4:28:03 PM EDT
Campus Water Quality Announcement

This is a message from NC State Environmental Health and Safety.

An odor in the water was identified at three locations in the vicinity of Cates Avenue on main campus. As a precaution, the campus community is asked not to use water on main campus for drinking or cooking purposes until authorities can conduct testing, flush the system and confirm the water is safe for consumption.

This process could take one to two days to complete. The campus community is encouraged to bring drinking water to campus on Thursday, June 28 and Friday, June 29.

If you notice that the drinking water in your building has an unusual odor, please contact the customer service center at 919-515-2991.

Additional information will be provided as more is learned. In the meantime, if you have questions, please contact Ken Kretchman at 919-515-6860.

http://www.ncsu.edu/emergency-information/06-27-2012.php


I don't feel so safe about NC State's campus anymore. 

[redsniper]

Always walk in well-lighted areas at night.
Don't walk alone after hours
Report suspicious activity to the Police immediately
Don't walk distracted

Also, ride a bike.

[BlueFlames]

Meh.  Back in my day, escaped, armed convicts fled through my campus.  At the time that these convicts were making their way through campus, I lived in the building adjacent to the library, where they were initially spotted, and less than a block from where they were ultimately arrested.

That amusing anecdote aside, don't mistake and abundance of reporting for an abundance of crime.  Universities tend to have their own newspapers with easy access to the campus' dedicated police department.  As a result, it's easy to let every student know about every crime report that gets filed.  This can lead you to the conclusion that there's a lot more crime on campus than elsewhere, when that's typically not the case.  It's similar to how the general public has perceived an increase in crime since the 1960's/1970's, when the rate of crime (and violent crime, in particular) has decreased since that period.  What they see is the increase in reporting and assume that that additional reporting corresponds to an increase in incidents.  Just because you see more reports of crime on your campus than in your hometown doesn't mean there's actually much more crime on-campus.

Certainly, if you're going to be out, alone at night, pay attention to your surroundings and try to stick to well-trafficked and well-lit areas, but leave the kevlar at home.  Don't assume that your campus turns into a lawless deathtrap at night, either.  You'll miss out on way too much.

Incidentally, The Daily Beacon, around the same time period that those escaped convicts were known to be on/near campus, also reported on the theft of an unattended chicken sandwich, left outside of Hess Hall one night.  When I say that campus newspapers publish every crime report, I'm not kidding.  Sometimes, it's entertaining; sometimes it's informative, but don't let the abundance of reporting lead you to the wrong conclusions.

As to the water quality issue, I can't speak to the quality of your campus' utility provider.  If there's any kind of an on-campus population (and I imagine NC State has several thousand living on-campus), then there's probably people working a lot of overtime to get the problem resolved.  After it's resolved, watch to see if problems with water quality become a recurring issue.  That's something that might warrant moving off-campus, assuming the surrounding area is serviced by a different utility provider.  If this is a one-off event, then all I can say is that life's full of little inconveniences.  You either roll with the punches or have a heart attack before age thirty.

[IronBeer]

I was going to leap into an overview of why the Clery Act came around in the first place, and maybe dig up some reports I've got in my school email, but then I saw this:

[stuff]

and decided it wasn't necessary.

Also, I'm going to second this, highly:

You either roll with the punches or have a heart attack before age thirty.

[BloodEagle]

You're going to see reports like that quite frequently.  Don't let them get to you (but reinforce your door, if you live in a dorm).

[Klaustrophobia]

mamba, that's nothing out of the ordinary.  that kind of stuff happens at EVERY university in the country.  when i was there, we got one of those reports about one of the SAFETY ESCORTS getting shot at in a failed robbery attempt.   i know the spot they are talking about, and a girl should NOT be walking there alone at 1 in the morning.  i had to go that way after dark a few times myself, and i always made sure i jogged, and was carrying my knife.

[BlueFlames]

i had to go that way after dark a few times myself, and i always made sure i jogged, and was carrying my knife.

What Klaustrophobia is trying to say is that he will run you down and cut you, mother****er! 

[Klaustrophobia]

...  yeah.

[BloodEagle]

i had to go that way after dark a few times myself, and i always made sure i jogged, and was carrying my knife.

What Klaustrophobia is trying to say is that he will run you down and cut you, mother****er! 

I laughed. 

[Mongoose]

Speaking of water quality, I fondly remember being one of the first people back in the dorms for our winter session one year, and discovering that all the toilets and faucets ran lovely rust-brown water for a good few minutes.

[redsniper]

If you're majoring in some kind of engineering or hard science, carry your class schedule with you. It could save your life. You see...

Once upon a time, a good ol' Ag from the TAMU engineering department was walking home from Northgate (the bar district) late one night. He decided to take a shortcut through an alley and was accosted by a mugger. The man said, "It's your money or your life." Thinking quickly, our Ag pulled out his class schedule and handed it to the man. He looked down at it and said, "Oh, from this I can see you have neither," and let him go.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

Meh. Safety is lie anyway.

This is why people should be allowed to concealed carry on campus. Although, I wouldn't object to more stringent requirements to be allowed to do so.

[perihelion]

Once upon a time, a good ol' Ag from the TAMU engineering department was walking home from Northgate (the bar district) late one night. He decided to take a shortcut through an alley and was accosted by a mugger. The man said, "It's your money or your life." Thinking quickly, our Ag pulled out his class schedule and handed it to the man. He looked down at it and said, "Oh, from this I can see you have neither," and let him go.

Ha!  They're still telling that one at TAMU?   
Ah... good memories!  I used to live in a fourplex near Northgate, incidentally.  I think it was on Boyett.  It was a bit of a rough neighborhood, but I always thought everyone played it up to be a lot worse than it really was.  Mostly it was just really noisy.

Just checked it out on google maps.  Yup.  It's still there!  They've changed up a lot of the other stuff in the area, but ye olde bachelor-pad is still there.

[BloodEagle]

This is why people should be allowed to concealed carry on campus. Although, I wouldn't object to more stringent requirements to be allowed to do so.

I can see where this thread is about to head, now.  Excuse me while I run in the other direction.

[NGTM-1R]

This is why people should be allowed to concealed carry on campus. Although, I wouldn't object to more stringent requirements to be allowed to do so.

Because weapons and college-age people under high stress go together so well. I mean, seriously, I'm a gun owner, I'm usually reasonably okay with concealed-carry stuff, but this is the most lolworthy idea I've heard in a long time.

[BlueFlames]

This is why people should be allowed to concealed carry on campus.

I just pulled information on fifteen major universities in the United States to get an idea of what their violent crime rates were like, versus the cities in which the campus' reside, just to get a sense of how well the generally strict weapons policies of universities was working out and to see if there was any obvious correlation between those cities' violent crime rates and the stringency of the state's CCW policy.  (Regarding those CCW policies, 'unrestricted' indicates no permit required to carry a concealed weapon; 'shall issue' is the least stringent and most common CCW permit policy; 'may issue' allows law enforcement a measure of discretion in who receives a CCW permit, beyond just the requirements outlined in local laws, and 'no issue' indicates that concealed carrying of a weapon is de facto banned by right of no permits being distributed.)

Of the fifteen universities I checked, four had higher rates of violent crime than their host city.

University of New Hampshire - 0.19%
Durham, NH - 0.10%
New Hampshire - Shall issue CCW permit

University of South Dakota - 0.05%
Vermillion, SD - 0.02%
South Dakota - Shall issue CCW permit

University of Idaho - 0.19%
Moscow, ID - 0.10%
Idaho - Shall issue CCW permit

University of Vermont - 0.43%
Burlington, VT - 0.3%
Vermont - Unrestricted CCW

Most of the rest of the universities I checked had much lower crime rates than their host cities.

New York University - 0.12%
New York City, NY - 0.55%
New York - May issue CCW permit
   
UCLA - 0.44%
Los Angeles, CA - 0.63%
California - May issue CCW permit
   
Duke University - 0.42%
Durham, NC - 0.70%
North Carolina - Shall issue CCW permit
   
University of Nebraska - 0.06%
Lincoln, NE - 0.46%
Nebraska - Shall issue CCW permit

University of North Dakota - 0.09%
Grand Forks, ND - 0.27%
North Dakota - Shall issue CCW permit

University of Arizona - 0.16%
Tuscon, AZ - 0.65%
Arizona - Unrestricted CCW

Georgetown - 0.30%
Washington D.C. - 1.27%
District of Columbia - No issue CCW permit

Columbus State University - 0.22%
Columbus, GA - 0.62%
Georgia - Shall issue CCW permit

Louisiana State University - 0.17%
Baton Rouge, LA - 1.26%
Louisiana - Shall issue CCW permit

I've saved a couple for last, as they're a little more germane to the conversation.  First of all, NC State, as concerns over that campus were what sparked the thread in the first place:

NC State - 0.19%
Raleigh, NC - 0.49%
North Carolina - Shall issue CCW permit

Finally, my alma mater, as I'm actually familiar with its weapon policy.  Specifically, the University of Tennessee will expel students and ban any individual from campus for possession of a weapon.  This includes any form of firearm, as well as blades beyond a certain length.  The policy is enforced rigidly and draws occasional attention from the local media, so one must be willfully ignorant to lack knowledge of this policy's existance.

University of TN - 0.08%
Knoxville, TN - 1.06%
Tennessee - Shall issue CCW permit

Statistics gathered from http://campus-safety.findthedata.org/ and http://city-crime-statistics.findthedata.org/ , which in turn appear to have gathered their information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  All information is from 2010.

Suffice to say, I don't think arming the students/staff/faculty or loosening campus weapon restrictions is necessary or wise, as university campuses tend to be safer, less violent places than the cities in which they reside.  If you feel like this is all confirmation bias or deliberate misrepresentation, though, I invite you to provide more thorough research.

[FIZ]

Western Blvd is not a happy place, I got a lot of people trying to sell me crack when I walked to the convenience store across from Wolf Village.  I always liked the housing on the other side of Hillsborough, had more 'college-town' feel to it.

But the crime thing is regrettably normal... common sense is king, pretty much what red said. I would avoid Western alone after the sun went down.  The water thing's kinda yuck, I remember we were without power for about 2 days because of a squirrel.

[Klaustrophobia]

****ing squirrels are EVERYWHERE at state.   


kinda funny sometimes though.  i saw one get caught in the middle of a flash mob as classes let out.  it freaked out and didn't know what the **** to do.    that way?  nope.  that way?  nope.  how bout over here?  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH HELP ME!!!   

[MP-Ryan]

and was carrying my knife.

Nothing personal, but unless someone is an expert in both knife attack and defense, it's a really poor weapon for an average person to carry on them.  A former police officer I know put it really well:  "Never carry a knife unless you're fully prepared for someone to take it from you and then stab you with it."

I have had a very extremely teeny-tiny bit of knife defense training in my police defensive tactics recertifications and if there is one thing the tactical officers teaching it have drilled into my head, it's that if a knife comes out then everyone in the altercation is getting cut or stabbed to varying degrees.  A knife isn't going to deter someone trying to rob you, especially if they also have one (really frickin' likely).  Property is property - wounded pride and wallet is a lot better than wounded person.

[Klaustrophobia]

i can always choose not to use it if i have it.  doesn't work the other way if it turns out i really DO need it.  believe me, i'm not stupid about such things.