Campus crime tales: dispatch two

By Scott Strasser, February 5 2015 —

“We’ve had people come in to bathe in the washrooms.”

Trespassing was the most common criminal offence at the University of Calgary in recent weeks, according to Campus Security (CS) director Brian Sembo.

“We seem to be having an upswing with people wandering into campus who shouldn’t be here,” Sembo said. “Some may just be coming into warm up, but in other cases they’re using facilities inappropriately.”

According to the CS annual report, there were 108 incidents of trespassing at the U of C in 2014.

Sembo said these reports come from all over campus and aren’t limited to certain areas. He said trespassers have various motives.

“We’ve had people come in to bathe in the washrooms, which of course they’re not designed for. We’ve even had males inside female washrooms. Fortunately, nothing has come of that, but we do always worry about the possibility of sexual assault,” Sembo said.

There was one report of sexual assault on campus in 2014, one reported case of sexual harassment and nine “other sexual offences.”

Sembo urged students, faculty and staff to report any suspicious behaviour they see.

Annual crime roundup

Campus Security (CS) released their annual report for 2014 this week. CS dealt with 1,458 reported incidents in 2014, an average of four per day.

The most common category was medical, accounting for 261 incidents.

Cases dealing with university infrastructure were the second most common, with 183 incidents.

Criminal activity on campus comprised 392 of the cases in 2014, including six cases of vehicle theft, 11 cases of fraud and 17 cases of breaking and entering.

Friday was the most popular day to commit crimes, accounting for 265, or 18 per cent, of reported
incidents.