On Oct. 10, Shire East Residence Director Jonathan Hong forwarded an email advisory report by Campus Safety Chief Terry Meyer to all Shire residents to inform them about rumored burglaries and suspicious activity during the week in the Shire Mods area.
The shire mods residence is home for sophomore students and there are about 3-5 students living in each mod.
In the email, Meyer stated that “no residential burglaries have occurred,” but campus safety did “receive several calls regarding suspicious persons, including one the previous night about someone banging on a sliding glass window.”
Hong was unable to comment on the situation due to student confidentiality.
“Since the start of the school year, we have responded to two burglaries for all living areas,” said Department of Campus Safety Lt. Jeffrey Joseph. “In regards to Shire Mods, there was one confirmed report of an individual who banged on a sliding glass door but did not make entry.”
In light of the suspicious activity, sophomore music major and C-Court resident Anna Biscocho decided to take extra preventative measures to stay safe.
“I used to have my mod doors unlocked and windows open so anyone can visit, but now we’ve double-locked everything and we don’t open our windows, so I feel like it closes us off from the community,” Biscocho said.
Biscocho’s roommate, sophomore nursing major Michelle Breanne, said she was “upset that they didn’t notify her until three days later about the incident.”
Both Biscocho and Breanne have heard rumors regarding break-ins in the Shire Mods.
“We heard about a guy trying to break in through a sliding glass door,” said Biscocho. “Also about a guy walking into his living room and there was a stranger sitting in his living room, but he just thought it was his roommate’s friend.”
According to sophomore biology major Adib Riazati, his mod was broken into on Oct. 7. His roommate, sophomore nursing major Jay Chang, ran into the unknown individual that morning.
“My roommate woke up early for nursing clinicals and as he was walking out, he saw this guy in a wife-beater [shirt] sitting in our couch,” said Riazati. “He didn’t know what to do, so he ran to [the] bathroom.”
According to Riazati, the man disappeared after his roommate came out of the bathroom. Both Riazati and his roommate state that they have reported the incident to campus safety.
Both Riazati and his roommates were in shock after the event occurred. Riazati expressed his confusion and concern towards the event .
“How can a person just get into our room, sit there and nothing be a problem?” Riazati said.
According to the Department of Campus Safety, since the start of the school year, it has received 47 trespassing, suspicious person or vehicle calls for service in all living areas. This type of activity can be juveniles on campus, homeless individuals looking through dumpsters, or in some cases, students walking through living areas.
“In those instances where officers are able to make contact, and the person contacted is not an APU student, the person is advised APU is private property, given a notice of trespass and escorted off campus,” Joseph said.
With recent community concerns, campus safety has decided to step up patrols of living areas and send timely information to all residents living on-campus. Officers and community service representatives patrol all areas of campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as have a perimeter patrol on the streets bordering the university from dusk until 12 a.m.
“Campus safety [strives] to make the entire community feel safe and secure [and] the community can help by reporting suspicious activity. If you see something, say something,” said Joseph. “We strongly encourage our community members to keep doors and windows locked even when at home and to utilize the deadbolt lock on the door.”