Two students were robbed in separate incidents within a two-day period this month, less than a half-mile apart, yet the Department of Public Safety only issued an alert for the one that occurred on the boundary of DPS' new Orange Watch program.
Orange Watch, which debuted in May, covers Thornden Park and much of the off-campus housing area north and east of the university (see map on page 6).
A Syracuse University graduate student was robbed on the 1200 block of Madison Street, less than a block away from his home at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15, according to a report from the Syracuse Police Department. Madison Street borders Thornden Park to the north.
In response to that incident, DPS sent an e-mail alert to the SU community at 10:57 p.m. that night. The 1200 block of Madison Street is on the border of the Orange Watch patrol, according to map of Orange Watch Patrol Areas on the DPS Web site.
Anthony Callisto, chief of DPS, said that robbery occurred a block away from "where we patrol" but an alert was sent because it occurred close enough to a high-density area of student living.
Twenty-nine hours later, while waiting for the bus, another graduate student was the victim of an armed robbery on the corner of East Genesee and Pine Streets on the morning of Feb. 17, according to a SPD report.
No notification was issued after that incident because the location of the robbery was "so far away," and therefore seemed less relevant to the student population, Callisto said.
The DPS' expanded coverage areas end within a block of the intersection of East Genesee and Pine streets, according to the DPS Web site map.
DPS is only obligated to release alerts for on-campus crimes, Callisto said, citing the Jeanne Cleary Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.
The act requires colleges and universities to disclose information about crimes occurring on or around their campuses.
The student in the Feb. 15 robbery was approached by two men who asked if he knew the time. The student was then physically restrained and attacked by the two men before being thrown to the ground, according to an SPD report.
His wallet was taken from the back pocket of his pants, according to the report.
In a similar series of events, two men asked the student victim in the Feb. 17 robbery for the time as he waited outside of the Rite Aid on East Genesee Street, according to an SPD report.
One of the men pulled a knife on the student while demanding cash, according to the report.
The student attempted to walk away, but was cut off by the second male. Taking out his wallet, the student revealed that he had only two, one-dollar bills. He handed both bills to the man without the knife, who, after laughing, returned one of the bills, according to the report.
After the two walked away, the student continued to wait for the bus and then went to work. After thinking overnight, he decided to report the incident to the police, according to the report.
Both students were traveling to their on-campus jobs when they were robbed. The student from the robbery on Feb.15 works at an on-campus dining hall, and the student from the Feb. 17 is a resident security advisor at Haven Hall.
For part-time students like Tory Boyd, the DPS alerts only serve as junk mail in his inbox.
"Campus safety isn't an issue for me," said Boyd, a senior at Henninger High School who takes only one class at SU. "I'm never really come on campus."
Boyd said he has never read a single alert.
Alyssa Todtman, a three-year resident of Madison Street, said the selectivity of the reports bother her.
The DPS alerts should include any robbery or attack involving students, regardless of their location within the city and any incident on-campus, said Todtman, a senior entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major.
"My interest might be because I live in a creepy place," she said. "I always check them."
lrbertol@syr.edu
The Orange Watch service, announced in May 2007, expanded the patrol zones for Syracuse University's Department of Public Safety on North and South Campus, as well as the neighborhoods north and east of campus, according to the DPS Web site. Five officers and one supervisor were added to areas on weekend nights and three officers on weekdays and during the summer months.
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