Issue date: 12/8/04 Section: Opinion

Suffolk University Police and Security deserve much credit. 365 days a year they work hard to protect the place we call school and some students even call home. For those who do live in the residence hall at 150 Tremont Street, what some considered an invisible yet secure barrier to the outside world was broken on Monday, November 29.

A man entered the residence hall after telling a campus security officer he was applying for a job with the campus food services contractor. After entering the cafeteria, the unidentified man made his way into the living quarters of the hall.

It is reported that the man then entered resident's rooms. It is bellieved the man stole a laptop from one room that was unlocked.

In this particular instance, the Suffolk Police failed to serve and protect. According to Suffolk Chief of Police John Pagliarulo, procedures for allowing people doing such business were followed, however residents deserve better.

Students should be able to expect a certain amount of security in their place of residency. Suffolk has spent thousands of dollars installing security-doors, and surveillance cameras in the dormitory, not to mention the thousands of dollars spent training its officers. All of this for what? The equipment did nothing from stopping this unidentified man from entering what many believe to be a secure area.

It should be noted that very often when a crime occurs people tend to blame the police for lack of security and not the perpetrator. We do blame this man for the crime he has committed but we cannot turn the other way and not pay attention to a lack of service from our police force.

SUPD and the criminal are not the only ones to receive blame. Residents must make personal safety their first responsibility. Included in that is making sure their room doors are locked at all times. All to often this is not a normal practice.

Students can not continue to expect to be safe in their rooms if they are not willing to make thier personal secuirty a priority.
In an interview with The Journal, Chief Pagliarulo said the procedure for people applying for jobs with Sodexho has now changed, but for residents this is too little, too late.

Wheather or not this man did steal the laptop is not the problem. The issue that needs to be addressed is how residents can trust the SUPD to protect them now that security has been breached. We are just lucky no one was harmed or even raped.

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