By Tracy F. Harris And Dylan Lightfoot
As an urban campus, the University of Louisville sees its share of crime. But, according to the Department of Public Safety’s Assistant Director Major Kenny Brown, the recent wave of robberies and burglaries on the Belknap Campus area is “highly unusual.”
Since Feb. 10, U of L students have been robbed — one of whom was shot in the arm as the assailant fled the scene. On March 6, two armed robberies were reported at University Park Apartments in one evening.
“Most of [the other officers] say they don’t remember anything like this,” Brown said.
UPA, at the corner of Preston Street and Eastern Parkway, has been the scene of three burglaries this semester, which leaves residents — most of whom are students — feeling worried about their safety.
“Everybody is absolutely scared when somebody knocks on the door,” said Speed School student Abraham George, a resident adviser at UPA.
George and the other UPA tenants aren’t the only ones worried. U of L sits in the middle of the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Fourth Division which, according to LMPD data, has seen almost 400 robberies in the past 12 months, including 23 incidents in February alone. Burglaries in the Fourth District tally more than 1,500 over the same 12-month period.
With more than one robbery and over four burglaries per day, Louisvillians in the Fourth Division have lost patience with losing their belongings.
A good place for bad people
At 14.2 square miles, the Fourth Division is the second-smallest of the eight divisions in Louisville Metro. By comparison, neighboring Fifth and Sixth divisions, which make up most of the East End, are 20.2 square miles and 32.8 square miles, respectively.
Due to software redesign issues, LMPD was unable to provide population statistics for the districts in question. However, crime rates in relation to district size are highly disproportionate. On many counts, the Fourth sees as much crime as the Fifth and Sixth divisions put together.
Data analyzed from February 2004 to February 2005 shows that the Fourth District makes up more than half the burglaries, robberies, car thefts and assaults for the three districts.
Fourth Division alone reported 30 robberies in February 2004 and 23 in February 2005. There’s not much discrepancy between those numbers, and it makes the recent near-campus wave seem less surprising.
The Fourth’s 399 robberies account for 59 percent of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Districts’ combined total of 675. Robberies in the first degree — that is, when the robber causes injury or is armed with a deadly weapon — totaled 307 in the Fourth.
The percentage is comparable for burglaries. Out of 2,988 in all three districts, 1,571 were in the Fourth, or 53 percent.
Assaults, which range from assault with a deadly weapon to reckless physical injury, totaled 838 in the Fourth District out of 1,546 total, or 54 percent.
In the last year, 905 cars vanished from the Fourth Division — compared to 1,533 overall. That number includes a 1985 Monte Carlo, stolen from the Kurz Hall parking lot on March 7.
Why has this part of Fourth Division become such a hot spot recently? According to Brown, it’s a good place to be.
“They’re targeting an area where they feel comfortable, where they can move in and out,” Brown said of the robbers. He said the area “suits the crime they’re going to commit,” with enough people to target but not enough to witness.
Lights … cameras … community action
When graduate student and UPA resident Asma Al-Wadidi’s apartment was burglarized, she lost more than just her laptop; 50 pages of her master’s thesis went with it. When Wael Emara and his wife Noha Elzehiry, also grad students living at UPA, were robbed by three men wearing ski masks, one of the assailants beat Emara over the head with Elzehiry’s purse after ordering him to lay face down on the pavement.
Beyond their loss of property and sense of security, these victims displayed a profound sense of frustration and helplessness. When advised of home security precautions she could have taken to prevent being burglarized, Al-Wadidi responded, “How are we supposed to know this? I’m international.”
But other students are apparently more proactive. During the week of March 6, Cardinal staffers received well-founded reports that some students living around campus were considering purchasing handguns for self-defense.
Officer Tara Long of the Fourth Division warned against the impulse to arm at a meeting of the St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Association last Monday night. Long explained that a handgun in untrained hands is nothing more than an added danger in a robbery scenario. “All you’re doing is putting one more gun in the mix,” she said.
Long also spoke to residents about basic measures to protect oneself from burglary. She advised keeping lists of serial numbers for valuables as well as photographs of them, and stressed the importance of neighborhood awareness and vigilance in preventing crime.
Any time citizens are worried about the security of their residence, Long advised them to call the LMPD’s free home security check. Any citizen can call 574-7010 and have an officer come to their residence for a security assessment and advice on how not to be a victim.
UPA residents at Monday’s meeting, however, expressed concerns about security checking the entire UPA complex of some 200 units. They complained of poor outdoor lighting and asked about the possibility of installing security cameras.
UPA is owned and managed by Brown and Noltemeyer, a local property management firm that is unaffiliated with U of L.
Luann Glidewell, an attorney representing Brown and Noltemeyer, said off-duty police officers have been patrolling the property seven days a week, and “will be there for quite some time.” She also said the firm was assessing how best to improve lighting and other security measures.
In addition to the off-duty officers, DPS has been patrolling UPA heavily.
But, as one attendee of the meeting said, “most of what happened wasn’t just about housekeeping.” The robberies were random and the victims defenseless.
Brown said in a recent meeting with Cardinal staff that people need to trust their instincts when it comes to not being victims.
“If something doesn’t look right, call [DPS],” Brown said. “I’d much rather … have a car show up and say everything’s fine than show up later and take a report.”
