Quads Broken Into, May Have Been Prank

Published 3-5-09
http://www.doaneline.com/quads-broken-into-may-have-been-prank-1.1596831

One of the quads in Burrage hall was broken into between 9 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday.

According to Russ Hewitt, the director of campus safety, it was suspected that someone broke into the quad through a window.

“[The burglar] then did some actions in there that might be considered pranks or what people typically call pranks,” he said. “Or it might have been that they were looking for something and just didn’t find what they were looking for. Regardless, the big thing on that is that the campus has to report that as a burglary. Burglaries are federally reported. So even in the event that this person thought they were doing something as a joke or a prank, we are pursuing it as a crime.”

Since burglary is a felony, Hewitt said that, if found, the person responsible would be turned in to the police department.

“There’s just no excuse for entering some other student’s room for any reason without permission,” Hewitt said. “There’s a lot of bad that can happen. The federal crime report that we have to send in, that data stays on there forever. So while somebody thought they were just joking, they just affected the entire campus’s crime stats. We can’t go back in later and say ‘Oh, well the person just said they were messing around.’ That’s not the way the government looks at it.”

Freshman Ben Hinrichs said the break-in didn’t seem like that big of a deal.

“You can break into any room anywhere,” he said. “I mean, it’s a prank; get over it. I’d be pissed off if my room got broken into, but I’m not going to file a report.”

Junior Laura Foord said it’ has happened before, and it will probably happen again. But she said she wasn’t too worried that someone would break into her room.

“Windows here [in Frees] are a little less easy to break into,” she said. “As long as everyone is careful and locks their doors, I don’t think it’s that big a deal. If someone is going to break in somewhere, they’re going to do it anyway, so I don’t think there’s too much more you can do.”
Even if the person who broke into the quad was doing so as a prank,

Hewitt said there are still consequences they will have to face.

“It has to do with respect,” he said. “Respect for other people’s property; respect for their personal living environment. If there was a student involved, they need to understand they run the risk of everything from immediate removal from campus housing to suspension aside from report to the police department.”