Journal 6

1.) Opening Scene:
-It’s a Wednesday night around 10:00 and Dillon Gentekos locks up his friend’s bike outside of Tener Hall and goes inside
-The next day Dillon gets a text from his friend saying he can’t find his bike.
-“Please tell me you didn’t lock it through the wheel.”
-“Ok, I’ll look around some more.”
- The bike is gone and all that is left behind is the bike lock

2.) “It really ruined his day. It really ruined my day because now I owe him 300 bucks.”

3.) Nut Graph:
- I am writing about crime and safety at East Halls. I chose this issue because it is something that affects everyone at Penn State and is a serious issue for students and Penn State administration.
- My audience should care about this issue because it is something that they see and have to deal with every day.
- Recently there have been multiple reports of theft and indecent exposure in East residence halls, so it is an issue that is very relevant.
- “The Penn State Police Department will increase police officer and student auxiliary officer patrols on campus in response to a string of indecent exposure incidents reported in the residence halls.”

4.) Background:
- Safety has been a concern for the school for many years.
- “Safety on campus is one of the highest concerns.” – Graham Spanier
- The school has put much effort into safety measures, such as I.D. cards, lockdowns of residence halls, room keys, police patrols, lighting up walkways at night, and education programs.
- “Before the 24-hour lockdowns on residence halls and I.D. cards, the male resident halls were never locked.” – Officer Frank Ball of the Penn State Police Department (25 years at Penn State)
- “Bands of thieves would go around the residence halls and push on the doors. If they opened and no one was there, they would take anything they wanted.”
- I can use specific statistics about crime on campus to show how often crimes are reported.

5.) Common Crimes on Campus:
- Theft, alcohol laws, and drug laws are the biggest reported crimes on campus.
- Two burglaries have already been reported in East Halls this year.
- Bike thefts have greatly increased recently
- “Bike theft, for some reason, has been huge in the past year. The numbers of bikes reported stolen have skyrocketed.” – Officer Ball

6.) Crime and Safety in East Halls:
- “I think East Halls are generally pretty safe, there really isn’t that much crime. I mean, there’s always something going on, but never really anything major.” – Ryan Blatz, 4th year student, RA at Pennypacker Hall
- “Not really. Actually, East is less safe than the other resident halls because of all of the freshman here that are more likely to commit crimes than other students.” – Ryan
- East Halls are actually “the biggest area of concern” for the campus police. Most police calls come from east.
- Most people on campus in one area, more freshman – “new people”
-Use statistics about crime: how they have increased or decreased over years and how they compare to other places on campus.

7.) Safety Measures/ Crime Prevention:
- I.D. card system used to get into residence halls.
- “It works very well and has helped in a lot of ways.” – Officer Ball
- Piggybacking – someone letting into a residence hall behind them, whether they live in that residence hall or not – allows for anyone to get into a protected residence hall
- “It is a big problem. It’s just so natural do and so easy.” – Officer Ball
- Locking room doors can prevent a lot of crime such as theft.
- Logan, 1st year student left room unlocked by accident and roommate got mad: “He got really upset about it.”
- Lighted walkways are very important at night.
- Emergency phones are actually being taken out because of cell phones and cell phone tracking
- Crime prevention education programs are available from the campus police
-Ways to prevent crime: “Always lock your doors, even if you’re just going to the bathroom. Never leave your things behind and watch your alcohol consumption.” – Officer Ball

8.) Conclusion:
- Safety is a big issue at Penn State for both students and the school.
- Much can be done to prevent crime by students, faculty, and the police
- More things are being done to help prevent crime in the future, such as new safety measures like increased police patrols and more security cameras