[TC Rider]

This report is a grim one, but we need a follow-up. Were the robbers also students, or people who invaded the campus to prey on students-- who tend to be rather unsuspicious.

There's really not a whole lot of difference.

[mathurine]

There's not a lot of difference if you are a student who is getting mugged, robbed, raped or otherwise abused. However, making the campus safer requires a logical approach to the problem. If outsiders are the principal perpetrators, then a law enforcement model more like that in high-traffic communities is needed; on the other hand, if the perpetrators are mainly students preying on other students, then better methods of screening out potentially criminal students gives more bang for the buck. Colleges are usually strapped for money and hate to spend money on safety and security which could have been spent on the library-- or even the football team. But if safety and security are a problem, there is ultimately no choice but to solve the problem in a way that is efficient in the use of resources, but effective in getting the job done. In fact, if students were a little more attentive to their own safety and security and did common sense things like lock their doors, avoid going around sensorily impaired by substance abuse, and so forth, security and safety would ratchet up automatically by several notches.