Around 9 p.m. tonight, Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins walked the block in front of the Sigma Phi Epsilon house — where an attempted burglary took place last night — to “touch base,” he said, with both students living on High Street and business owners working near the fraternity house.

“It was a pretty troubling event last night,” Higgins said. “Our job is to keep the entire community safe.”

Dressed in a suit, rather than a uniform, because he was coming from a YMCA board meeting, Higgins said he was already out and simply wanted to check in with the officers and detectives already in the area. One, who Higgins said was part of a larger effort to increase police visibility, stood directly across from the Sig Ep house.

Higgins said that for him being visible and accessible is part of the job: “You want to reduce any fear or concern.”

“Just me being here isn’t necessarily because I’m really worried. I’m out and about a lot… I wanted to come out and be around,” he continued.

The Chief later stopped in for a snack at Froyo World.