A recent campus robbery sparks discussions on heightened security and additional surveillance cameras at Shepherd University.
On Aug. 30, students attending Shepherd University received an email alert from the Shepherd University Police Department regarding a robbery that occurred in broad daylight just outside of the Shaw and Thatcher dormitories.
According to police reports, Jason Sparks, a Shepherd student, was walking from east to west campus when he was attacked from behind and forced to the ground by at least two unidentified males.
Sparks said his assailants held him face-down on the ground while they removed his iPhone and his wallet containing $70 to $80 cash.
Sparks’ only description of the attackers was that they were athletically built.
A GPS tracking application led investigators to the McDonald’s just outside of Shepherdstown where Sparks’ wallet was recovered without the cash. The iPhone, however, was never found.
A month later, few leads have developed in the Sparks case and they have been less than fruitful. According to Shepherd University Chief of Police, John P. McAvoy, the GPS tracking application that led investigators to the discovery of Sparks’ wallet was reactivated about a week later in an undisclosed location in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Expressing mild frustration, McAvoy stated, “I am surprised at the lack of community support in this case.” McAvoy also raised the question of whether or not this incident is a call for more security in the form of surveillance cameras.
Acknowledging the dilemma of security versus privacy, McAvoy asked if adding more cameras to monitor the campus is something students at Shepherd would want.
In a sample of 10 students, eight students were either indifferent or in favor of additional cameras placed throughout campus and two were in opposition.
In regard to the question of privacy and security, Jared Greenleaf, a senior in the chemistry department, said, “I don’t know if cameras would make a real difference in deterring crime, but I don’t think it would be an invasion of privacy. It’s a public space; you don’t get much privacy in public anyways.”
Mike Voorhis, a junior in the business program, expressed a completely different view on the subject: “The police mean-mug me every time I walk by,” said Voorhis. “They make me uncomfortable as it is. Why would I want them to be able to track my every movement?” Catherine Fletcher, a senior studying family and consumer sciences, stated, “I am in no way a fan of the ‘Big Brother’ aspect of society, but for security reasons, it may be necessary to take precautions. Camera locations would need to be publicly known and content would also need to be made available for me to feel comfortable with constant surveillance.”
Concerning Shepherd’s security, Sparks said that although he feels that surveillance is lacking, he believes the Shepherd University Police Department is doing a good job. “The security personnel are very competent,” said Sparks. “Officer Seeders was the officer handling my case. He really went out of his way and even worked four hours overtime without submitting for compensation.” It also bears mentioning that although the 10 people interviewed for the sampling did not necessarily agree on the necessity for increased surveillance, they did all agree that they felt relatively safe on Shepherd’s campus.
The campus locations most often cited as needing additional security were the various parking lots, the space between Shaw, Thatcher and the Butcher Center, and the new underpass beneath route 45.