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The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Student Newspaper
November 20 - December 4, 2013
UALR students victims of armed robbery
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Photo by KenDrell Collins Sophomore Phillip Cannon points to the parking space where he and his friend Tanner Harris were approached by the armed robber. Cannon said the gates, which were supposed to be locked, were open when the crime occured.
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Staff Writer pxmothu@ualr.edu
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wo UALR students reported having been robbed last Monday around 11 p.m. in the South Oaks Apartment parking lot, located across from campus on Fair Park Blvd. Tanner Harris and Philip Clamon were getting into Clamon’s car when an unidentified black male came toward them. “We were near the gate,” Harris said, “so we thought he was leaving but he rushed to-
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me to stay here, and left.” Clamon said the gunman kept the rifle aimed at him, warning him to drive faster. He said he reached a speed of nearly 100 miles per hour and evaded the pursuing officer. Meanwhile, Harris went to a friend’s apartment and called the police again. After explaining the facts for 45 minutes, they saw Clamon’s car coming back to South Oaks without the assailant. Clamon told the police the assailant made him drive downtown to an ATM and
Crime hotspots: University Village & Lot 15
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ward us, pulled out a gun and told us to drop everything we had.” The robber asked for cash multiple times before forcing Clamon to drive downtown to the victim’s bank. “He somehow focused on Philip and left me behind, Harris explained. “So when they were about 15 feet away, I started running towards campus. When I saw a police car, I explained me and my friend had been robbed and my friend had been kidnapped. They turned the lights on, told
threatened to kill him several times while they were together. “Philip told us the guy had his gun on Philip’s legs while they were driving. Philip also said they saw a police car but the assailant refused to stop and said he will kill Philip if he stopped,” Harris said. Moreover, the assailant was counting down from ten while the victim was retrieving money from the ATM, threatening once again to kill him at 1 if he did not get the cash. “Fortunately, the money came out of the ATM right before 1,” Harris said. Clamon was then forced to drop the assailant off and was told “not to come back or he will be killed.” The assailant left with a new IPhone 5S and around $180. At the time of the incident, Harris, uncertain of his friends fate, was imagining the worst. He was worried his friend was dead, he said. Although he has already talked to people who have been in the same situation, Harris said he will go to the counseling services on campus. “I am doing okay during the day, but I am still scared to go out at night,” he said. Harris also said the victims could have been anyone. Unfortunately, he and Clamon were the victims that night. If the two students had not crossed paths with the assailant, he may have easily headed toward campus in search of someone else to rob.
Jacob Ellerbee Executive Editor Editor@ualr.edu
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n analysis conducted by The Forum has identified University Village, Lot 15 and Lot 2 as three areas on campus experiencing the most crime over the course of a 10-week period this semester, according to reports filed in the UALR crime database. The three areas identified were also the locations of some of the most violent and severe types of crimes committed on campus. Between Sept. 7 and Nov. 14, there were 10 incidents originating from University Village. Among the 10 incidents, half of them involved theft and vehicles. Of the six incidents reported in Lot 15, at least two violent crimes were committed. This includes an instance of kidnapping and domestic battering in the 3rd degree. Another includes an act classified as criminal mischief in the 2nd degree. Jennifer Sibley, the crime prevention officer at UALR, said during the first month of school, the exit gate was broken at University Village. She said now some of the problems arise from cars “piggybacking” into the lot, or having a car drive near the bumper of the car in front and drive through successively with only one card swipe. “We do have an officer that sits over there seven nights a week from 8-11 p.m. and that discourages that. [Piggybacking] happens a lot when we’re not sitting there and we know that,” Sibley said. As of 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 18, two arms of gates were broken off in Lot 15 and another arm has been permanently lifted, allowing free entry and exit to
Graphic by Byron Buslig the parking lot near residence halls. The arms of these entry and exit gates are made in-house at UALR by facilities maintenance. Dave Millay, associate vice chancellor of facilities maintenance, said the arms are made of standar “We buy the lumber and then usually paint them ourselves. To buy one, paint it and install it, it’s less than $50. It’s not expensive,” Millay said.
Millay said that previously, instead of spruce wood, standard PVC pipe was used. “We used to have PVC pipe that served the purpose of the arm, and the question I get quite often is ‘Well, people keep breaking these things off, why don’t you make them out of steel or aluminum or something that won’t break?’ Well, the answer to that is, I want them to break so that the damage doesn’t happen to the gate itself.”
Photo by Jacob Ellerbee
Millay added that the mechanisms used to make the arms rise and lower can get damaged. “I’d much rather have someone who is going to do vandalism just have them break the arm off and replace it, rather than have to replace the whole gate,” Millay said. “The only time I can think of when there’s an extended period of a gate being out of service...is when there’s a part required and it could be a mechanical component that facilities management needs to buy and install,” Millay said. Millay also said the current gate system in place was here when he began working on campus and that they are typical of many universities. When asked if there are any alternatives to securing these lots besides using a pieces of spruce lumber, Millay said other systems are expensive and possibly more problematic. “The gate system that we have here, the mechanisms were here when I came here. They are typical of all the universities that I’ve ever visited,” he said. “There are some systems where you have bollards that disappear into the ground and then come back up and so forth,” Millay said. Adding that “it’s very very expensive to do.” “These [gates] are basically economical and basically reliable,” Millay said. “Like with any piece of mechanical equipment, you’re going to have failures. And outside, areas like that [Lot 15], you’re going to have some vandalism.” Sibley said the high crime rate cannot be attributed to a gate system or non-functioning gate, but for where the lot is lo
See Hotspots, page 3