Statistics released by North Yorkshire Police reveal that student reports of crime on and around campus have more than doubled this year.
Last term a total of 50 crimes were reported to police, more than twice the number from the previous term. Initial hopes that the increase was seasonal were quashed after the police revealed there has also been a 72% increase compared to the same period last year.
The figures are likely to be used as part of the ongoing campaign to restore the porter service, following cuts made at the start of last term. But the University has refuted any connection between the security cuts and the increase in crime reports.
A spokesman said that the rise was “due almost entirely to an increase in cycle theft.”
He said: “Changes in portering arrangements are not a factor in the increase in cycle theft. We continue to urge students and staff to make sure that their cycles are secure. Other crime is down, indicating that the changes have had little or no effect on crime on campus.”
But students have claimed that the porter cuts are having an effect on bike thefts. Second year Economics and Finance student Sophie Walker told Vision that she had locked her bike up by Vanbrugh porters lodge, thinking it would be safest place. But the lodge was closed up over night because of the cutbacks.
“The next day, I went to collect my bike and it was missing,” she said. “It’s a shame that even right outside a residential building and a porter’s area, there isn’t better security.”
But the University insist that security on campus is not a problem. The spokesman said: “Security on campus is closely monitored and crime levels are reported both monthly and annually. There are monthly meetings with North Yorkshire Police and Safer York Partnership, at which YUSU is also represented,”
He added: “The University of York has a safe campus with a low crime rate, in a safe city which also has a low crime rate.”
However, speaking exclusively to Vision earlier this term, Vice Chancellor Brian Cantor admitted there had been “feelings of deterioration and concerns about security,” amongst students.
Cantor also refused to say how much campus crime would have to increase by before he accepted that the porter cuts were a mistake.
I wonder if the rise in crime has any correlation with the lack of security mgr at the uni since last october.
These are shocking figures.
I would expect more of a response from the University. It is almost as if they dismiss the statistics. If they took our welfare serious they would have made a statement about what they are going to do to reduce crime rates, their apathy suggests they don’t care about the rise and the safety of students.
Next to Vanbrugh Porter’s Lodge, you say?
As in the bike racks outside Vanbrugh?
The bike racks you can’t even *see* at least the overwhelming majority of from the Porter’s Lodge, you say?
I spy an unwarranted example.
By the sounds of it, she parked her ‘bike at one of the racks which
is within sight of the lodge; and, even if she didn’t, having someone
in the lodge provides general deterrence. Anyone about to nick
something will probably have a quick check around the immediate
vicinity. Even the management admits that having staffed lodges is
a deterrent to crime. So …. not an “unwarranted example” at all.
This is a good, and important, article. It’s good to get the truth
regarding crime, instead of our only source of information being the
anti-portering YUSU lies about crime on campus supposedly “decreasing”
since portering hours were cut. It’s also worth reading this article
in conjunction with Vision’s “York in the money” piece….
Sure, the porter may have stopped this, but what if he’d been busy helping someone?
Moral: buy a better bike lock (or two).
If he had been busy helping someone, then maybe it would have been
worth having him there for THAT instead!
Most of the time when they’re helping someone they’re in the lodges
– and just them being there wards criminals off a bit. Porters aren’t
perfect, and they can’t be everywhere at once, but that’s no reason to
get rid of them. It’s like saying that bike locks can be saw through,
so don’t lock your bike. Imperfect doesn’t equal useless.
If anything, maybe porters not always being available is a reason to
employ a few MORE of them. And of course when we DO get rid of them
then they’re even LESS available to do stuff. Langwith lodge is
virtually porter-free these days, as they’re always off covering for
Derwent and Vanbrugh.
I’ve worked out how to fund porters. Forget the new £1.5m they’ve just
found, and rents. We need to adopt porters, like adopting a panda, and
pay two pounds a month, and get an adoption certicate and a photo of
our porter. This is Bill. We rescued him from a job centre in 1992.
He likes tyres, climbing things, and humping his keeper’s leg. Here’s
a photo of him eating bamboo (the porter, not the keeper, obviously).
Speaking of bike locks, what’s the best one which doesn’t a lot?
“Doesn’t cost a lot”, I meant to say. Too busy laughing at my own
panda jokes to type properly.
Kryptonite Locks
best bike locks ever, seriously worth it. my bike got nicked at uni after i spent £20 on a bike lock at halford’s, ended up having to pay about £100 in total in insurance costs to get my new one. tbh i’d much rather have just not been as naive/stupid and spent £100 on an amazing lock and never have to go through all that hassle in the first place..
https://www.kryptonitelock.com/products/ProductDetail.aspx?cid=1001&scid=1000&pid=1207
I have that lock now with a 4″ cable (cos i have a quick release wheel!)
Also take your seat with you where ever you go, people are less likely to want it if it has no seat. Also some people just nick the seat to be arseholes so it’s a good measure anyway!
Cool.