University of Illinois Police Dept Response to Crime
Fall 2011
To All Concerned Parents,
We at the University of Illinois Police Department certainly share your legitimate concerns regarding the safety of your sons and daughters who make up our University Community. I cannot state strongly enough that we take incidents such as this VERY personally, and we are actively investigating these incidents to ensure the quickest resolution possible.
In regard to some of your comments, be assured that every incident such as the ones described in the crime alerts are put there for one very specific reason, and that is to educate our community about incidents so that they can have a heightened awareness and can take steps to protect themselves. While there have been statistical increases on some crimes, others have actually decreased over the past several years. The alerts you receive(d) can be disconcerting, but please realize that overall the campus crime rate fluctuates due to many circumstances, and we constantly re-evaluate and strategize to address the safety and well being of our community.
The fact that we are doing a much better job at alerting the community through our messaging system leads people to believe that crime is at an unprecedented level, but that is not the case.
It is an unfortunate fact of life that crimes can and will occur on this campus, just as they occur on every campus across the United States. The information provided in the crime alerts is intended to keep our community informed so that they can take steps to protect themselves as best as possible.
We do utilize a variety of patrol methods, including walking and bicycle patrols. We also employ motorcycles and ATV's during times when staffing and weather allow.
Also, in regard to the many comments regarding access to the buildings and camera systems, please understand that many buildings on campus are card access, and some still utilize key lock systems. The hours of operation and access to the buildings are controlled by the individual departments. Conversely, there are also multiple camera security systems on campus, and currently this department is working diligently to bring them into a more focused and productive system that will be overseen by the Division of Public Safety. Along with that project, multiple state of the art cameras will soon be covering a much larger portion of the campus district. This will certainly be a leap forward in the use of technology to combat criminal activity on the Illinois campus.
In regard to the issue of offender descriptions and race of the offender(s), please understand that victim descriptions vary widely, depending on the amount of time they actually observed the offender and how quickly the incident happened. We list the descriptions of suspects (including race) as they are provided to us. If the description provided by victims or witnesses is not sufficiently detailed and we do not believe that it has any inherent value, it is not included. However, if the description is sufficiently detailed and we believe it would aid us in the investigation and keeping people safe, then those descriptors are included.
Ultimately, we rely on the dedication of our officers and the support of our community when it comes to reporting suspicious persons or circumstances. Please impress upon your Illinois students that if they feel unsafe or threatened in any way, or even if they simply see something that requires police attention, to call 911 (or 9-911 from a campus line) immediately so that we can respond. The chances of the police successfully resolving a crime in progress go up exponentially the quicker we are notified.
Should you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Lt. V.G. "Skip" Frost
Patrol Division Commander
Bomb Squad Commander
University of Illinois Police Dept.
Ofc. (217)244-4874
Fax (217)244-1979
vgfrost@illinois.edu
