As finals approach and the semester begins to come to a close Police Sergent Mathew Mays reflected back on the year’s crime report which came back as average compared to years in the past.
Some key points from the crime report, which includes on and off campus incidents that Point Park Police respond to, were 11 drug violations, seven harassments, 6 disorderly conducts and two sex offenses, one off campus and one on campus in Boulevard Apartments.
Incidents on and off campus responded by Point Park Police from August 7 to November 29. Photos provided by Public Safety.
As the weather begins to cool down, so has the crime. The past week has been quiet according to Mays.
“The weather has taken any of the homeless population and moved them back to shelters,” Mays said. “Now that the weather is getting a little more temperate that may change this week.”
It had also been generally quiet for the department because the previous week campus was closed for thanksgiving. There were less students on campus on November 20 through 27.
“Personally I’ve not often felt unsafe, but that’s also because I’m a guy and it’s a different experience. I’m much less targeted,” Nick Konopka, a senior broadcast production major said. “I’ve never felt unsafe in terms of crime going on, but sometimes it’s nice to see Point Park police if things are shady at night…As long as you stick to the general rules of staying in groups and don’t go out alone that’s probably the best way to handle things.”
Over the holidays Mays believes it to be true that crime should go up due to things like holiday theft.
“Especially as you see the holiday market pop up in Market Square, that’s 20 more stores and they don’t have surveillance,” Mays said. “As they turn and somebody steals something, they report that to the police, crime stats go up.”
Sam Paratore, a senior SAEM major, has mixed feelings about occurring crime Downtown.
“I feel like most of the time it’s handled fairly well, but there’s definitely some moments where it’s a little less so,” Paratore said.
Cole Sholtis, a senior cinema arts major, said he feels different depending on where he is on campus.
“I feel like there’s places in the city where if you know you need to avoid them you’re fine,” Sholtis said. “If you don’t know the area you’re in it’s a very unsafe environment because how do you even get out of them at that point…There’s areas that aren’t controlled very well for people just walking around downtown.”
In an emergency students can reach public safety at 412-392-3960 or access them immediately through one of the 88 emergency call boxes that are placed throughout campus.
