Overly trusting students suffer from preventable campus crime
Taylor Martin, Reporter
November 28, 2007
George Fox tends to be a place full of individuals with high integrity and honesty. For this reason, many students have developed some bad habits and do not take the proper precautions with their valuable items and other important safety issues. Fox's Campus Security exists to protect students from theft, or violence of any sort, but they certainly are unable to manage all of the contents of each student's room on campus.
Many students' interactions with Campus Security consist entirely of the ever-annoying parking fines, but the Security staff is also known to quickly respond to problems and issues that arise on campus. Just this last semester, George Fox Security confronted and chased down a man connected with theft at several different universities. He was apprehended with the help of the Newberg Police Department.
George Fox student Joe Ahn recalls the incident: "First of all, my iPod was stolen out of my room off my desk during one of our [men's basketball] games last year. This could have been prevented had our dorm room been locked, except we didn't lock it all year." This is a perfect example of many students' all too trusting nature. "The campus security didn't do too much about it except direct me to the Newberg Police to fill out a stolen item form," said Ahn.
"My advice to other students would be to just lock up your room," said Ahn "Especially when no one is around. It would be nice to be able to trust everyone; unfortunately we can't. There are a lot of random people that walk through our campus, too, that shouldn't be here. So, make sure to keep your rooms locked when you leave."
Aside from Ahn's incident, there have been several others involving both the men's and women's locker rooms in Wheeler.
Protecting students from every potential scenario is impossible. It is far too easy for students to feel safe in the Christian environment that George Fox University provides. Ed Gierok, the director of security on campus said, "As far as responding to safety issues we have not had to respond to any that involve the students." This is obviously a good thing, yet students need to be aware of the simple fact that "Newberg has its share of well-learned criminals that are waiting to take advantage of people that are distracted," according to Gierok.
The "Neighborhood Watch" theory has long been implemented as a valuable resource to protect communities from being victimized. This idea is another way for students to keep an eye out on the campus. "The students are a great asset to the security department," said Gierok. Suspicious activity should be reported instantly to security services.
"I would say that 9 out of 10 times the theft could have been prevented if the items taken had been secured or locked up," said Gierok. The students themselves can make the campus safer by simply being aware of everything going on around them. Gierok stated, "We rely on your eyes and ears for many things that we respond to."