Photo by Lee Lard
Vehicle-related crime has gone up across the country and Bradley’s campus is feeling the spike. Chief of Bradley University Police Brian Joschko and Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria addressed the concerns of the public in an open forum on Monday, March 27.
Joschko spent much of the forum encouraging active participation of the Bradley community in stopping crime.
“How do we collectively make our campus a safer place? Because at the end of the day, you can have the best police department in the world, and they by themselves can’t keep the community safe,” Joschko said. “It has to be a partnership.”
The chiefs gave suggestions of preventative measures the public can take against car theft: lock doors and windows, avoid leaving valuables in parked cars, park in well-lit areas and report any suspicious activity or people.
“If you see something and you think to yourself, ‘Boy, I should probably tell somebody about that,’ that is the indicator that you should actually tell someone,” Joschko said.
Echevarria encouraged the use of the Peoria PD mobile app, which can be used to submit anonymous tips with both photos and videos.
This forum followed a weekend of unrest on Fredonia Avenue, which is the most heavily patrolled street on campus. On March 23, a member of Alpha Chi Omega had her car stolen and on March 25, two juveniles reportedly threatened to shoot the same sorority member on the sorority’s property.
A representative for Alpha Chi Omega asked, “What do you do when somebody threatens to shoot you? I’m at a loss, I don’t know what to tell the girls.”
In response, the BUPD police chief answered with “Call the police.”
In relation to the crimes on March 23 and 25, two juveniles were arrested. Echevarria explained that spikes in similar crimes often go down after an arrest is made.
“We made some great arrests last night,” Echevarria said. “So let’s cross our fingers. The university is well aware of what’s going on.”
At the time of the forum, BUPD said that they had not increased patrols on Fredonia Avenue.
While BUPD wants increased civilian cooperation, some members of the Bradley community are not satisfied with the job the officers are doing.
“Ever since the incident happened in our parking lot, I have seen BUPD patrol our area a little more,” sophomore mechanical engineering major Peyton Girard said. “I do not think this is enough, though…without change in how we handle crime across campus, this issue will continue to get worse.”
The chiefs also explained crime prevention through environmental design.
“There’s a theory called broken-windows theory, which says that when a property is poorly maintained, it is more likely to attract criminal activity,” Joschko said.
He pointed out some specific safety measures houses can take, such as trimming bushes so that lots are visible from windows, replacing burnt-out light bulbs and having visible working security cameras.
BUPD offers assessments of environmental design to make sure that homes are optimized for crime prevention.
