By Elijah McGuire-Berk
Web Editor
Last week two incidents of cell phone theft in Hodson Hall were reported within one day of each other.
Director of Public Safety Jerry Roderick said, “People had left them on the tables and gone off to get food or a drink and when they came back, the phone was gone.”
These thefts were part of a trend that Roderick and others at Public Safety had noticed. “I was talking with my staff and they were sharing with me that they’ve observed many students coming in the dining hall, putting their cell phones down to reserve the seat and then would go get the food, so I wanted to alert everybody that it was not a good practice.”
Roderick described the scenario as “a crime of opportunity.”
He said, “If you make an opportunity for a crime to occur, it can occur. If you take away the opportunity, it makes it much more difficult for a criminal to commit a crime. We try to encourage people not to create opportunities and not put themselves at risk by making it easy for them to become a victim of crime.”
Despite the recent crimes, he also pointed out how relatively safe Chestertown is. “We’re fortunate to live in a community where you don’t see a lot of aggressive crime. You don’t see a lot of armed robberies or things like that. Most of the crimes that happen here are crimes of opportunity.”
Dining Hall Director Donald Stanwick said, “Don’t leave anything unattended that even looks valuable or like it may contain valuables, as doing so presents a great opportunity.”
Stanwick said that, although he is not a law enforcement member and this is only suggestion, don’t ever leave anything valuable as a place-holder while waiting in line for food “ We know the lines can get long and you want to save a seat, but do it with a folder or book that really has no value to anyone else,” he said.
Hailey Zullo, sophomore, said, “I think it’s kind of annoying because I used to always leave my phone, but I can’t do that anymore. Now I have to carry all my stuff around when getting food and hope there’s a spot.”
Aaron Adler, sophomore, agreed with her. “It’s annoying having to carry my backpack; it’s just so heavy. I can’t just put it down anymore,” he said.
Sophomore Edgar Hernandez was surprised at the thefts. “It’s just something you don’t expect from WC.”