University Police Chief Steven Siena is advising residential students to “lock their doors” and to “refrain from allowing entrance to the residence halls to people unknown to them,” as they investigate a residential burglary that occurred on September 29th on Vista Lane, approximately 4.5 miles away from the Old Westbury campus.
The emergency crime alert was sent out to “warn individuals of this crime occurring very close to our campus,” according to Detective Diana Parlato.
Parlato also said the department wanted to “notify students, faculty, and staff of the importance in locking car doors, securing dorm rooms, and not opening exterior doors of the residence halls to unknown individuals.”
The University Police Department has stated that “there is no known connection of this incident to the campus.” However, they are still advising students to take precautions.
Residential Assistant, Christopher Francis, says the incident concerns him given that the campus is fairly accessible to the public and that residential students tend to be out most hours of the night. Furthermore, Francis says that “if students feel unsafe, they should contact an RA with any concerns.”
Residential student Dmitri Sarmiento says the incident does not make him feel any less safe on campus, but it does reiterate the fact that students must take their safety seriously and to lock their doors.
Sarmiento says the incident also raises other concerns, given the lack of lighting near the Academic Village for students walking to or back from the Woodlands Residence Halls. Sarmiento says the lack of lighting does not worry him personally, but “poses a safety risk that may worry other students at night.”
While there is lighting near the Academic Village, other students have said there is not enough lighting near the back of the campus center and the athletic fields, which students must pass to get to the Academic Village from Woodlands.
This report comes at a time when residential students have been dealing with repeated power outages across campus.
