In light of recent crimes occurring on and near University Grounds, University students are raising concerns about their safety.
On Feb. 23, two masked men allegedly walked through the door of a suite in a Lambeth Field apartment, tied up the four residents with materials such as a pillowcase and a Velcro strap, and robbed them of their wallets and a watch.
On Monday, March 4, a Faulkner Apartments resident reported that three men entered his suite and assaulted him at around 11:45 p.m. The three men allegedly beat the victim with a chair, their feet and their fists.
Most recently, on March 17 - a Friday night when most University students were on Spring Break - two suspects, one of whom was armed, allegedly held up two male University students outside 41 University Circle around 10:40 p.m. The victims were unharmed and were able to recover their wallets and stolen personal items.
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In each of these incidents, suspects have been arrested and charged, but in the University Circle incident one suspect remains at large. Police have yet to determine whether these incidents are related to each other.
Second-year College student Rica McKeveny, a Lambeth resident, said she thinks University Police and Resident Staff are doing the best they can to keep on-Grounds residents safe.
The crimes "haven't affected the way I feel. Students have to take precautionary measures too, by not walking alone at night and locking their doors," McKeveny said.
She said Lambeth Resident Staff held a safety seminar with University police officers so Lambeth residents could ask questions and learn about potential safety risks as well as precautionary behavior.
"It's a combination of the University working with us and us also doing our part to be safe," she said. "The Resident Coordinators are doing as much as they can. All they can do is tell people to be careful. Whether they lock their doors or not, is up to the residents."
Third-year College student Rebecca Hall who lives a few buildings down from the location of the recently reported University Circle assault, said recent crimes in the University community illustrate the lack of safe, properly kept off-Grounds housing.
"It reflects on the poor state of housing here - there isn't enough housing on Grounds," Hall said.
She said she has not seen very many police officers around the University Circle area, only occasionally on some weekend nights.
"Almost the only police that come down U-Circle are police ticketing people who aren't supposed to be parked there," she added.
McKeveny said she has seen more police officers on bicycles recently, including near the University Hall parking lot across the street from the Lambeth complex, where many students park when the Lambeth lot becomes full. The trek from the U-Hall parking lot back to Lambeth makes McKeveny uneasy.
"It's kind of scary for Lambeth people to walk back from U-Hall late at night," she said. "Any little [precautionary measure] will make a difference."
She added that the recent crimes are serving as a "wake-up call" to University community members who often do not realize crimes can occur anywhere.
"It can happen anywhere, to anyone," she said.
Hall said she feels secure in her University Circle building.
"I feel safe in my building because I live on the third floor. [But] our landlord isn't good about replacing broken screens, and the front and back doors are open all the time," she said.
Hall said she feels sorry for non-students who live on University Circle and who heard about the robbery.
"The rent is expensive - and to have a robbery right out in front of their houses" reflects badly on the state of security near Grounds, she said.
Because of the recent crimes and a general concern for the safety of University students, the U.Va. Parents Program is working to give parents and students information about safe off-Grounds housing.
U.Va. Parents Program Director Molly Bass said the Program is working with the Virginia Crime Prevention Association, Charlottesville housing rental companies, University Police, the Blue Ridge Apartment Council and the Dean of Students Office to put together a booklet that outlines what constitutes safe housing and safe behavior as well as research on relevant state laws. The booklet will be helpful to both parents and students.
"A residence with [precautionary] hardware, location and appearance may be safer than a resident without these," Bass said. "We're saying that we consider a residence to be safer with x, y and z [precautionary features]."
University Police Chief Michael Sheffield, who is also on the committee, said the information brochure will include a reference card with a checklist for parents and students to take with them when inspecting possible housing.
"You can grade [the housing unit] yourself, and check for deadbolt locks, peepholes, landscaping and lighting," Sheffield said.
Bass said the housing laws in the booklet will enable parents to require subpar landlords to install the necessary equipment.
"The hope is that the majority of rental units in Charlottesville will have safety features - as the public becomes more educated about safety standards, hopefully there will be a desire [on the part of some landlords] to conform," Bass said.
Some of the other tips the booklet will offer include recommendations from Student Council's Safety Committee, such as replacing burnt-out lights and keeping up appearances around student housing areas so as not to attract possible criminals, Bass added.
Sheffield said the main focus of the safety program is to foster a relationship between the University and off-Grounds housing.
"We all have the same interest in providing safety and security for the residents," he said. "It makes the entire community a safer community - when someone doesn't lock their doors or leaves windows open, it increases the risk for other homeowners."
Bass said the historical role of the Parents Program is to wait for proposals that would not get funding from Student Council or a mid-year project that was turned in too late for the appropriations process. But after the Aug. 26, 1999, armed rape and assault of a University student in the Venable area, Bass said parents called and asked what they could do.
Sheffield said the United States is slow in developing programs like these, "geared around crime prevention through environmental design" in student housing areas.
When the committee sent their plans for this project to other colleges across the country, they replied saying they did not have such a program and wanted to see the University's program once it was completed.
"We have some great security concepts that could be a model for other schools to use," he said. "The University of Florida had a pretty good program, a result of some off-campus incidents they had. It was the only one we found that was comparable to us" in school size.
Bass said the booklet, titled "Parents' Safety and Security Guide for Off-Grounds Rental Housing," will be sent to all parents in June.
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