’BIRDS WIN RIVALRY GAME WITH SUPPORT FROM PACKED ARENA SPORTS 8
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSIT Y’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1888 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2016
Vol. 128 / No. 40
videtteonline
Bloomington gets guns off the streets Local police remain proactive against gun violence; five stolen guns were seized last month BRENT BADER Senior Reporter
J
anuary proved to be a productive month for the Bloomington Police Department after it took five stolen guns off the streets. The guns Brendan will soon be Heffner returned to their original owners. “The seizures of those guns were the results of some investigations into other things via traffic stops and narcotics investigations,” Brendan Heffner, chief of police in Bloomington, said. “We’re glad because those are five guns that won’t be hurting any citizens.” Normal recently experienced gunrelated violence Sunday morning, as two men were shot in a parking lot of a Normal apartment complex. Their wounds were considered serious but non-life threatening. This is one of many cases of gun violence in the area that local police are trying to mitigate. Last year, 27 firearms were reported as stolen in Bloomington, and 22 firearms were seized. While Bloomington recently experienced
its lowest annual crime rate in a decade, according to the city’s latest Uniform Crime Report, the city still experienced 15 gun-related incidents. Only one person was shot and his/her wounds were non-life threatening. Heffner attributes last year’s drop in crime to the combined efforts of the entire department. Additionally, Illinois State University saw no gun violence in 2015, but remains prepared if such an event were to occur. “Despite the rare occurrences of targeted violence, most college campuses are very safe places with little to no gun violence,” Aaron Woodruff, ISU chief of police, said. “Our officers are very well trained and equipped should a situation ever arise.” A majority of the gun-related incidents in the past year were “hybrid gang” shootings in Bloomington. Heffner described a hybrid gang as one that does not fall under the hierarchy of regular gangs and lacks a central structure and leader, which results in unpredictable actions. These hybrid gangs often consist of juveniles, which leads to difficulty keeping them off the streets for extended periods of time. “You have younger people going down the wrong path so we try to help them but if they don’t want help they
Photo Illustration from Getty Images
Bloomington police removed five guns from the street in January and continue to be proactive against gun violence. go the other way,” Heffner said. “They are not treated as adults in the criminal justice system, nor should they be, but what that means is they’re on the streets for a longer period of time than what an adult would be.” Through intelligence gathering methods, the department is able to mitigate retaliation between gangs after gang-related shootings.
“We use our intelligence in order to drive where we patrol,” Heffner said. “In certain investigations we try to have [an] omnipresence where we patrol and try to be in a lot of places at once.” They also have community outreach programs and attempt to work with the local youth and citizens in areas where crime is on the rise to
build a trust between the department and the community. “If we know who’s causing the issues we will eliminate it,” Heffner said. “But if you don’t say anything you’re pretty much accepting it and we’re trying to get people to change see GUN page 5
New COB minor meets analytics demand BRENT BADER Senior Reporter
In an effort to meet the growing demand of employers and provide students the most relevant education possible, the College of Business will begin offering a new analytics minor and sequence. The minor and marketing sequence will train students to analyze large amounts of customer data to better understand the marketplace. Employers across the globe seek this talent in their employees. Associate Professor Peter Kaufman said multiple well-regarded employers have already been reaching out for interns in this area over the past few weeks, and data scientists are one of the top career options, as pertaining to job openings currently available. “It is very important for ISU students to consider the minor as many organizations — whether they be governmental, private or non for profit — are looking to hire people who can think critically and solve problems using data,” Kaufman said. The data would consist of customer transactions, web documents, digital images as
Graphic from Getty Images
The College of Business is offering a new analytics minor and sequence for students. well as the hundreds of millions of people interacting on social networks and using popular web services such as Gmail and YouTube. Through this data analysis, companies have a better understanding about their marketplace and better understand the needs of their customers.
Many of these organizations in health care, business, education and entertainment industries are already collecting this information but are unsure how to use it to their benefit. “Organizational resources are finite, and doing more with less in many cases may
turn on proper analyzing of data,” Kaufman said. The classes will prepare students to properly analyze information and give students the closest experience to on-the-job training as possible. “All of these classes focus on using data to enhance decision-making and many involve projects with real clients using cutting edge software,” Kaufman said. Official rollout of the coursework began in fall of 2015 with an Introduction to Marketing Analysis course taught by Associate Professor Horace Melton. “We’re talking about different techniques and using a variety of different software,” Melton said. “If we’re using direct mail we look at how can you analyze the data and use it to identify customers or people who would be most likely to respond favorable to your direct mail.” This new minor allows students to have a basic understanding of these skills that were previously only brief ly discussed in other classes. “The courses we’ve taught in the past have see MINOR page 3