Loyola Community,
Within the last week, the Department of Campus Safety has learned of a few incidents in the Rogers Park and Edgewater communities (near the Lake Shore Campus) that signal an increase in gang-related activity. While these incidents are not a specific cause for concern at this time, campus safety would like to offer the following safety tips to members of the Loyola community.
Summer Safety Tips:
- Be aware of strangers hanging around parking areas, and never leave packages or valuables visible in your automobile.
- If you reside in the area, always be sure to lock your exterior door. Never prop an exterior door open. Also, be sure to close and lock your windows when you are not home.
- Whenever possible, travel in groups and stay in well-lit areas. Never walk or jog in an alley.
- Stay alert and tuned-in to your surroundings. Do not wear earphones while out alone, as this minimizes your ability to hear an approaching threat. It also advertises to a would-be offender that you may have a desirable item to steal.
- Do not engage in unnecessary conversation with strangers, and never give out any personal information. Even if the person you are talking to is harmless, others can overhear your conversation.
- Immediately report any suspicious individuals or behavior to 911 or the Department of Campus Safety (asksafety@luc.edu or 773.508.6039).
For more safety tips, visit the Department of Campus Safety’s Web site at http://www.luc.edu/safety/safety_tips.shtml#warmweather.
Have a wonderful and safe summer,
Campus Safety
17 comments:
Wonder how much this affects enrollment, and in turn, revenue, at Loyola. You'd think with that much at stake, with the possible future of a major institution of higher learning and major community revenue generator, someone would be more aggressive in clamping down on gang active to keep the students coming back from their small towns in Iowa, Indiana, etc.
Some of these tips are silly. We should all be aware of our surroundings, but it is not necessary to always travel in groups (they don't even say "at night").
And, "don't engage in unnecessary conversation with a stranger"?? Not even "harmless" person, because a bad person might overhear you! (Which leads to what exactly?)
It reminds me of the safety e-mails I got when I was in college. You got the sense they were telling you to be afraid of the community surrounding the university (largely poor and black) and to only trust other college students.
Loyola students, like anyone, need to be careful and to use their best judgment when it comes to safety -- don't talk to people who seem threatening, walk in lighted areas, walk home with a friend when you can. But telling them never to talk to someone they don't know in Rogers Park is really going overboard.
Agree with a girl on albion. Some of the tips are downright absurd and if I were the Alderman's office I'd be slightly pissed off. RP is not any more dangerous than any other area of the city. If I recall, it was Lakeview that suffered a rapist on the loose a year or so ago. Is DePaul sending out similar type emails? Here's the email I'd send students:
You go to school in a major metropolitan area and you may be young but you are not invincible. Don't be stupid. Be aware of yourself and your surroundings and don't leave yourself open to problems. What does "leaving yourself open to problems" look like? Here are a few examples: walking with headphones turned up so loud and your head so in the clouds that you have no idea what is around you; leaving stuff in your car; leaving your apartment or front door open/unlocked; walking home late at night drunk (alone or with others); cutting through alleys by yourself (particularly after dark).
If I were a Loyola student, I'd fire back at the email and ask what the hell they mean by increased gang activity and what does gang activity (increased or decreased) look like exactly?
Good grief.
The more I think about Loyola's silly email, the more annoying it is. It's like those idiotic Homeland security smog alerts. The alert level is now orange (bad guys really really want to kills us) as opposed to yellow (they only want to kill us a little?). Loyola just sent out a communication that is the functional equivalent. Idiotic.
Is Loyola University in the 20th or 24th. If it is in the 20th I wonder how Commander Moy feels about a major constituent of her district sending a message contrary to what she said at the Uptown safety meeting on Monday night. She said and I quote the 20th district is the safest lowest crime in the city.
Man on the Street, Loyola has been in this neighborhood for 100 years, and this neighborhood has seen far worse periods than this one as far as crime goes. The 80s were worse around here. University of Chicago is in Hyde Park, which has a much worse crime profile, and that doesn't deter the people who would lie down in front of a train to get into that school.
Washington U of St. Louis borders some of the most violent neighborhoods in St. Louis, as does St. Louis U, and last I heard, their enrollments were not affected. Washington U is still one of the most sought-after schools in the country despite the fact that a number of their students have been murdered when living in some of the surrounding violence-plagued neighborhoods. The neighborhood surrounding Columbia in NYC was for many decades one of that city's most violent, and people still came.
I lived in Lakeview for 3 years near Wrigley and I definitely felt much safer when I lived there, than here - have to disagree with you on that one. It's much scarier getting off the Morse L after 10:00 pm than it was the Belmont L.
Although some of the points seem ridiculous, they are valid. A lot of people are idiots and need the obvious pointed out to them. Walking with headphones at night is just asking for trouble, but I see people doing it all the time etc. Although, they should have defined what the "gang" stuff meant or left it out of the notice.
I have lived in RP when it really had problems and in all that time of going to and from the el, walking around (and I walk almost everywhere) at all hours, I've had only one problem with my home being broken into. I've watched people be robbed -- in Washington DC (and my home in DC was also broken into); I was mugged -- in LA (broad daylight at the airport). RP is just as safe as any other urban environment.
I am fairly certain that many people who claim to feel "less safe" in RP than in Lakeview, for instance, feel that way because of our much touted diversity. Lakeview doesn't have so much diversity. Some might call this being racist.
Who was it that said, " If the Jesuits are around the neighborhood is bad!"
Loyola takes care of itself and of its own. They do not have a really great reputation for working with the community. Back in the day there was an attack on Glenwood.
A fellow, the ax man, attacked a young girl in the back with an ax. He left her for dead. She survived!
The police had a hunch and the family asked Loyola NOT to publicize the attack.
Loyola did - the creep got away!
That is what I know to be true about Loyola.
Some of the little safety tips are so obvious you'd think people these days would be born knowing these things.
Like, lock your exterior doors. Yet I see people leave their back doors open and only the screen door latched in the summer. I don't care how secure you think your apt. building is, don't do this. There is always some careless neighbor who can be depended on to leave the back security gate ajar.
Leaving packages and valuables visible in the car- what can you say about this. Cars get broken into all the time everywhere, and most people know better than to do it.
Will 911 really respond to calls about a "suspicious person"? 911 has a lot of real emergencies to handle and they are only going to respond if someone is being attacked.
Travel in groups- get real already. Most people need to be able to travel alone. Your schedule might not mesh with those of your companions.
Here are real-world tips:
1. Keep your money, CCs and other small valuables under your clothing if possible. Get a wallet on a rope so you can put it around your neck, under your blouse or jacket.
2. Stay alert, and look people in the eye when your walking. Try not to let people get too close to you.
3. When you see someone who looks dangerous, cross the street, or duck into a store.
4. Don't pull out your wallet to give money to panhandlers. If you want to help out some frail oldster begging on Granville or someplace, have some small bills in your pocket so you don't have to pull your wallet out. And when you make a "donation" make sure that no one else is around watching. Some really vile characters will rob your beneficiary after witnessing her/him receiving a gift from you.
Walk on Sheridan or Broadway after dark- don't cut across the campus commons. It's too dark and there are too many recesses for people to hide in. Stay off the commons if there are no classes, or events that draw people. It's no place to be alone. When you are walking down Sheridan, be very alert to who might be lurking in the little court under the el trestle- try to walk on the side of the street by the station.
A girl on Albion,
What was meant about other people hearing your conversation is that someone out to do harm might assume that you have something worth taking. They might follow you to rob you at the first opportunity. They may also be so bold to follow you all the way to where you live and rip off your house.
My mother snapped on me when I was seven years old for talking loudly, on public transportation, about what items we had in our house. This was in 1968. That rule hasn't changed. It never pays to advertise what you have, or even when and where you are going somewhere (which folks talking on cell phones in public are extremely guilty of doing).
Oh Pearl - give me a break! - I disagree with your opinions (not facts) and right away I am a racist? I walk all over with my dogs and I'm fine with them. Walking alone I carry my pepper spray close to me up here - I'm approached a lot and it creeps me out.
pearl: Everything is relative, of course, but I believe that, to most people, "stray gunfire" doesn't mesh well with "safety." You could certainly do worse than RP (in, e.g., many other Chicago neighborhoods), but I think there's too much crime to call it safe.
And, yes, there's some white bread in Lakeview that would never be comfortable with POC, but don't smear the whole area, 'k?
The longer I live here, the more I realize that RP is just as safe or unsafe as the rest of Chicago. It is a big(ish) city and not always 100% safe. Loyola students and parents of those students should realize and acknowledge that when considering the school, period. This isn't the University of Kansas, this it the city of Chicago.
When are you going to recycle back to your poo banner?
I wonder why they are not warning students to stay away from Mexicans so they do not get the Swine Flu.
I actually just found out some information about the case. First of all, there have been a increase of Latin kings and disciples on Albion towards the east side. Secondly, there was an incident were some kids did not take the gang members seriously, and therefore got themselves in trouble. Soo, I think that with more information, it was probably a good idea that Loyola did what it did. Especially considering some stereotypical people that attend Loyola...
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