Press "Enter" to skip to content

Lock it up or lose it

The Bradley University Police Department has begun undertaking extra measures to ensure people’s vehicles and bicycles are safe from theft. It is a new campaign called “Lock it up, make it safe and take it with you.”

The three-step program educates students and others on Bradley’s campus about how to make things safer. Lock it up: making sure your room and car doors are locked. Make it safe: if a person leaves valuables in their car, they should keep them in their trunk or under their seat. Take it with you: do not leave property like student IDs, keys or laptops unattended.

According to BUPD’s Facebook page, bike thefts happen within five minutes of parking, unlocked vehicles get stolen most often in broad daylight and about 50 percent of residential burglaries are caused by unlocked doors.

Additionally, as a part of this campaign, if an officer notices any belongings left unattended, they will fill out a Lock It Up tag, informing the person where their belongings are being safely held. This helps eliminate the opportunity of crime, according to the department’s Facebook page.

BUPD saw that certain theft was not stopping, and had to find a way to combat it.

“As an officer, one of the biggest problems is the opportunity citizens give criminals to commit theft,” said Sgt. Nick McCumber. “Hopefully this campaign will stop criminal activity.”

Some students feel that it is not necessary for BUPD to take these steps.

“I feel like people don’t leave their stuff out for that long for it to be stolen,” sophomore psychology major Carlie Heaton said. “If people leave their stuff behind, that’s their own fault.”

In contrast, BUPD officers feel that this program will help students tremendously in keeping their belongings safe.

“It is early to see big change, but people are having conversations about the campaign.” McCumber said. “It’s going to take time to see an actual number, to see about big change.”

Even though it is too early to see the long-term impacts, McCumber has had feedback from students about things they have learned from the campaign.

“Students hadn’t thought that leaving books and bookbags in the library was dangerous and are more conscious of it now,” McCumber said. “I have had people tell me that they use the lockers at Markin now and are careful about what they leave in their cars.”

This initiative is meant to show students the importance of keeping track of their belongings and to prevent the opportunity for theft to occur.

Copyright © 2023, The Scout, Bradley University. All rights reserved.
The Scout is published by members of the student body of Bradley University. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the University.