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Monday, April 13, 2015
815-753-0105 H @NIUNorthernStar H NorthernStar.info
Phillips to employ hot spot policing
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Police use data to combat warm weather crime
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Alex Nugent Staff writer
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Hillcrest Drive
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Campus Crime The following was taken directly from the NIU Police Department. Anyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law. The NIU Police Department provides police reports online at niu.edu/publicsafety/. Wednesday 1. At 8:53 a.m. April 1, disorderly conduct was reported to have occurred at 1029 Ridge Drive. This case was opened Wednesday. 2. At 12:45 p.m., theft $500 and under was reported to have occurred at Neptune Central. This case is open. 3. At noon, theft of lost or mislaid property was reported to have occurred at Barsema Hall. This case was suspended. 4. At 5 p.m., theft over $500 was reported to have occurred at Founders Memorial Library. This
case was suspended. 5. At 1:30 p.m., theft of lost or mislaid property was reported to have occurred at the Music Building. This case is open. 6. At 11 p.m., possession of cannabis 30 grams and under and possession of drug equipment were reported to have occurred at Neptune West. This case was closed by exception. 7. At 11:50 p.m., possession of cannabis 30 grams and under was reported to have occurred at New Residence Hall East. This case was closed by exception.
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Thursday 8. At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, theft of lost or mislaid property was reported to have occurred at the Music Building. This case was declared unfounded Thursday. 9. At 11 p.m. Wednesday, residential burglary was reported to have occurred at Neptune West. This case was declared unfounded Thursday. 10. At 8 a.m. possession of cannabis 30 grams and under was reported to have occurred at Stevenson North. This case was suspended.
DeKalb | NIU Police Chief Tom Phillips said the police are using several tactics to fight crime, which tends to go up as the weather warms. Thomas Phillips NIU police NIU Police chief are being trained to execute hot spot policing, which includes collecting and analyzing data on crime and deploying officers accordingly, Phillips said. Staff gather data to conduct a CompStat, which involves looking at crime data and trends and holding the supervisors and officers accountable for the trends, as well as working toward further intelligence gathering in residence halls. Phillips said during his tenure he has also enhanced copolicing and increased patrols on and off campus and redesigned the patrol map by breaking the campus into four zones and beats, which helps specify where crimes happen. Police are also re-employing bike patrol officers, which allows police officers to be closer to and interact with the community as the weather warms. The majority of crimes committed on all college campuses, including NIU, are property crimes which are 70 to 80 percent bicycle thefts, Phillips said. This occurs because the warmer spring weather increases the number of people who are outside and using their bicycles, Phillips said. “The greater the population the greater the probability or opportunity a crime is going to occur,” Phillips said. “The highest probability to be an offender of crime is
the age demographic between 16 to 24 and 18 to 27 and there is also the same high probability that someone can be a victim of a crime.” Senior anthropology major Gianna Bellucci said NIU’s campus is safe, but she appreciates the emergency stands located throughout campus, as well as the fact she owns mace in case she ever gets into any trouble. “The campus can be the safest place on Earth, but if people don’t feel safe then it is not safe for them,” Phillips said. “That’s why presence is a big thing for me. There’s a fine balance with this; too many police make people feel oppressed and not enough makes people not feel safe.
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We need to be protecting and engaging students where they study, where they work, where they live and where they socialize.” Thomas Phillips NIU Police chief
“I think that you can actually have an increase in presence of police officers as long as those police officers [plan] on studying past crime patterns over multiple years to see what strategies made an impact or not.” Junior history major Dimitri Niforos said NIU is safe and he does not see criminal activity from his home on Lucinda Avenue. Phillips said he plans on continuing his studying of past crime patterns to see what strategies make an impact. Police are “slowly but surely getting better at this; strategically deploying our officers where they need to be in the community,” Phillips said. “We need to be protecting and engaging students where they study, where they work, where they live and where they socialize.”
City Crime The following was taken directly from area police and fire department records, or from DeKalb County court records. Anyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law. April 4 • Tiffany C. Bibbs, 33, of DeKalb, was charged with disorderly house. • Raymond V. Cousins, 20, of DeKalb, was charged with domestic battery. • Ashley A. Blackwell, 24, of DeKalb, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of cannabis less than 2.5 grams. • Lisa J. Kniece, 27, of DeKalb, was charged with domestic battery.
• Martin P. Cuevas, 61, of DeKalb, was charged with a dog running at large. • Joshua J. Danay, 25, of Cortland, was charged with driving on a suspended/revoked license.
April 7 • Xzavier C. Talley, 42, of DeKalb, was charged with burglary and retail theft. • Kristen M. Scott, 28, of DeKalb, was charged with driving on a susApril 5 pended/revoked license. • Felix E. Barnes, 22, of Matteson, • Jacob Surry Smith, 20, of East was charged with possession of Peoria, was charged with disorcannabis. derly house. • Latoya S. Alexander, 33, of DeKalb, was charged with driving April 8 on a suspended/revoked license. • Ryan L. Doherty, 21, of Geneva, was charged with possession of April 6 drug paraphernalia. • Aniceto Cervantes-Morales, • Shea Ann Rumoro, 20, of Haw28, of DeKalb, was charged with thorn Woods, was charged with no driver’s license. retail theft.