Oklahoma City University Police Department arrested a man on campus on Wednesday, Aug. 19 for two counts of felony vehicle burglary, trespassing and public intoxication.
Major Dexter Nelson, OCU Police Chief, said students called the police department at approximately 8:30 p.m. about a man acting suspicious near Noble Drive.
“What they saw him doing was going up and down the drive, looking into car windows and pulling on car door handles,” Nelson said. “We always ask, ‘when you see something, say something.’”
Nelson said an officer found a man by Draper Hall who matched the description of wearing cut-off jeans and a checkered shirt.
“The officer realized that, as he’s making contact with him, the man is actually getting in a car; I want to say it was a red Toyota Corolla. He told the guy to get out of the car and asked him to lay down on the ground, and as he lays on the ground, the officer immediately realized he was heavily intoxicated,” he said.
Nelson said a second officer arrived and helped handcuff the man. The man admitted the car was not his, and he didn’t know who it belonged to.
“They found out the guy had property from other cars such as passports, some other type of ID and pockets full of change,” he said. “Once someone gets your ID information, your name, date of birth, or social security number, they can become you for all intents and purposes. They can get credit cards in your name, checking accounts, all kinds of different things.”
Nelson said they were able to identify the student who owned the car the man got into because they had a parking permit.
“It helps us quickly know when a car is on campus that it belongs on campus, and we can determine who the student is if you register your car,” he said. “There’s been cases where we need to find a student based on something going on with their car. The parking pass helps us locate you and get whatever the problem is taken care of.”
Nelson said he encourages students to pick up their parking permits. Permits can be purchased at Student Accounts on the third floor in the Clara E. Jones Administration Building. Students have until Sept. 7 until campus police will issue citations for not having a permit.
Nelson also encouraged students to lock their cars and make sure their belongings are out of sight.
“Crime is just looking for an opportunity to happen, so the more you take away that opportunity, the less chance you have of becoming a crime victim,” Nelson said. “We ask you to, first of all, make sure your doors are locked. Two of the cars the man got into, they weren’t even locked. Second, make sure you don’t have any visible items in the car, even a backpack that might be $10 or $12. A lot of thieves think, ‘Well, it’s a college campus, there’s a good chance there’s a laptop in that backpack.’”
Jace Jordan, cell and molecular biology senior, said he’s always conscious to lock his car.
“I think a lot of people are from neighborhoods where they don’t always lock their cars and aren’t as conscious as they should be,” Jordan said.
Jordan also said he called campus police last year when his friend had his car broken into.
“It seems like a semi-regular occurrence, but I think OCUPD takes care of it pretty well usually,” he said. “They do a good job, but sometimes it seems they’re understaffed or can’t control as much as people would like them to. When you need to call them, they’ve always responded really well in my case, and they made sure my friend got all the stuff back from his car that was stolen.”
Emma Krajicek, music junior, also said her car was broken into last year.
“Nothing was taken because there’s nothing in my car worth value. I didn’t even report it,” she said. “Stuff from my console was pushed around and on the floor. I honestly don’t remember if I left it unlocked, but I think I might have.”
Krajicek said she thinks occasional break-ins are inevitable.
“I feel like, even in a closed campus, you’re not entirely protected. When my car was broken into, it was in Cokesbury where there’s a gate. If someone wants to get your stuff, they’re going to find a way to get it. I think OCUPD does a pretty good job. Even if there were gates everywhere, it would still happen. They’re doing the best they can,” she said.
Since OCU is an open campus, Nelson said campus police have encountered people on campus over the summer.
“It’s a nice campus, so a lot of people treat our campus like a park,” he said. “They come and walk their dogs, and that’s okay. It is private property, and we’ll tell people that, but we don’t mind if you’re just walking your dog; that’s not a big deal. It’s the people on bicycles that are pacing the place, looking into car windows, going into buildings and snooping around we’re concerned about.
Nelson also said there were various thefts over the summer including two instructor’s bicycles, a golf cart and two stolen cars.
“The area around us isn’t the best. It’s not the worst, but it’s not the best,” he said. “When I got here, I was surprised to know that there’s about 25 firearms that OCUPD has confiscated from people on campus. I don’t know how long they’ve been there, it could have been a couple of years, but that number, to me, is high for a university.”
Nelson said he expects less strangers to walk on campus now that students are back.
“We do expect it to decrease because now we have more students and more eyes on campus, and we’re hoping they’ll say something when they see it,” he said.
Because we have an open campus, Nelson encourages students to always carry their student identification.
“We’ve had several incidents where the officer could not determine if it was a student or a non-student on campus, because a lot of thieves carry backpacks and ride bicycles. A lot of them are also student-age or are much older but look like students. That’s another reason we ask students to make sure you carry your student IDs,” he said.
The campus police department’s non-emergency line is 405-208-5001. The emergency line is 405-208-5911.
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