ITG

So, here's the lowdown. Since the shool year started, there have been five reported cases of a guy sneaking into some dorms and hiding in the girls bathrooms, three of them in the same dorm. The descriptions, when they could be given, were not exact matches,but similar, describing a tall (approx. 6'2-6'5) man in middle age, dressed all in black with a goatee. Unfortunately, the cops say that it "hasn't happened enough times" and "the descriptions aren't good enough" for them to act directly. And while I understand that, that doesn't mean that there's nothing to be done... especially to correct what is, in my opionion, a criminal dereliction of duty by the people in charge- it's not widely known that this is happening. Some people in the dorms that it's happening in don't know.

So, a few of my friends and I are going to write the college paper about it to see if we can get them to publish something about it in the paper. I also want to include suggestions for things that we can do that are reasonable (one of my friends has the idea that they can put card locks on the bathroom doors like we have on the dorm doors that only activate for girls, and while that would probably work, it's not very timely or costly). Writing the paper and increasing awareness of it is one such step, and another I want to do is post flyers around the dorms so people are aware that this is going on.

Part of the problem is him getting in the building- the doors close slowly, sometimes people prop open doors, and often people hold the door for people behind them. While they shouldn't be doing those things anyway, for people who don't know something like this is happening they probably don't even think about it. If people realized this was a very real threat, I think they'd be a lot more careful about the doors.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else had any good ideas that we can include, so that we're also suggesting solutions when we report the problem. Any help would be appreciated... shit like this just shouldn't happen, and we should do everything we can to prevent it.

__________________

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

steakii

does your dorm not have cameras? mine has cameras down every hallway and in the stairs. There's really not much you can do, just inform people and tell them to be careful, like the flyer idea

ITG

No, our dorms don't have cameras, and I'm surprised yours do. I wouldn't choose to live anywhere where I'd be video taped whenever I'm outside my room. It'd be insulting and demeaning.

steakii

They never look at them unless there is a problem (or so they say atleast.) some kid got busted the other day for taking a piss in the elevator.

Trocisp

I would say set up a single camera in someones room, that overlooks the outside of the dormitories. Next time it happens, show the camera footage to police, if the guy is on it - you'll have a better description. If not - no harm, no foul.

There's no invasion of privacy (You're legally allowed to tape or take pictures of things that happen in public).

420godfather

...I would say post the flyers as soon as possible. Also, I would think that the campus news paper and the local news paper would run the story . Perhaps a dorm monitor ?

__________________
......420gf......

blondie0420

I would say, in regards to the doors, remind people not to hold the doors open for people they don't know (obviously you can hold it open if it's your neighbor behind you and she's carrying a pile of books). And, better yet, when you enter and exit, pull the door closed behind you rather than letting it shut slowly on its own.

Another thing to do would be to establish some sort of a watch group - kind of like a neighborhood watch. It wouldn't even have to be anything formal, just a community effort to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Finally, maybe you could suggest a "buddy system" for the bathrooms. I'm trying to imagine what your bathroom setup is like in your dorms - is it one communal bathroom for all the girls on the entire floor? (That's what we used to have when I lived on campus. They're completely dreadful, to say the least.) Anyway, if that's the case, having two girls enter the bathroom together would obviously be much safer than one girl going in alone to find this guy waiting in the shadows.

I'm sure my ideas sound pretty common sensical, but I guess that's all you can do in a situation like this - use common sense. Most importantly, you need to raise awareness about what's going on so that girls aren't blindsided by the news when they see a guy creeping up on them in the bathrooms. Secondly, I think the campus community needs to pressure the police to take more action - this is a serious thing happening here. This guy could just be a peeping Tom, or maybe he's a crazed psycho killer, but either way, he is entering a locked dorm where he does not belong and threatening the safety and privacy of the girls living there. The police need to set a precedent and let creeps like that guy know that their presence is not going to go unnoticed, and that the illegality of their actions is a major issue. To do anything else is, as you said, a criminal dereliction of duty.

__________________