San José State’s University Police Department (UPD) and the SJSU community discussed crime trends, department updates and issues affecting the campus and surrounding area on Thursday in the Campus Village Two Multipurpose Room.
Housing Security Officer Benny Leung said the purpose of the meeting was to hear concerns from the community.
He said law enforcement and the community aren’t currently on the best of terms, but these types of meetings are aimed to help rebuild that relationship between the two sides.
“Every month we host these types of meetings with the purpose of building a relationship with the community, hearing their concerns and fixing them as best as we can,” Leung said. “Most UPD officers are current or used to be students at SJSU.”
Leung said during events like this, campus police are able to explain services the department provides and are able to go into more detail about classes that can help with self defense or saving someone’s life such as the “Stop the Bleed at UPD event.”
He said these services can provide safety knowledge for students to use on their own and beyond the campus environment. Leung said these events also help UPD interact with students and create an overall feeling of comfortability.
“The more familiar the officers are with the campus and the atmosphere of the students can help officers better serve the school with a new found confidence,” said Leung.
UPD Administrative Captain Michael Santos said the monthly meetings are usually held at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, but moved Thursday’s meeting to Campus Village Two to make it more convenient for students to attend.
Santos said the meeting was focused on housing issues and disturbances happening in the residence halls, as there has been a regular report of incidents around the area.
“Hopefully we can come up with a better way to get responses from the students, so we can tailor our services to what the community actually wants,” Santos said.
UPD Sergeant Chris Zonsius said there has been a trend of homeless people walking through campus attempting to enter various housing buildings.
Zonsius said there have been many occasions where housing staff members would report incidents of people “who don’t look like students” walking through the dorms. He said most of the suspects they catch trespassing have records once they run a background check.
UPD Cadet Benjamin Smyers said watching your surroundings is the first step and easiest way of being aware of people who might cause harm.
He said a housing-oriented safety meeting is important because students need to feel safe at all times, especially in their homes.
Smyers said students can be extra careful by keeping up with crime logs because the logs indicate what’s happening on campus, in turn helping students navigate their safety.
He said a department update that has been emphasized is tailgating because there have been suspects around the stadium on game day who disguise themselves as fans and crash tailgate parties.
He said tailgating is an American tradition in which sports fans gather outside sports venues before a game and congregate before the game.
“Lately we have been having suspicious people crashing the tailgates,” Smyers said. “Get a good description of the suspicious person, get to a safe location, get in contact with UPD.”
Smyers and Leung also presented the monthly crime log, forms, requests reports and emergency notifications.
There are several different forms that can be filled out such as lost and found reports, crime reports and events on and off campus, according to UPD’s website.