Tag Archive: Yale Police Department

  1. Sandy Hook students deliver love to YPD

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    Love is in the air, even in the Yale Police Department.

    This year, the YPD joined in the Valentine’s Day spirit with a special gift from the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Yesterday, students from the Sandy Hook Elementary School delivered cookies and handmade Valentine’s cards to Yale police officers in appreciation for their assistance to Newtown, after a tragic Dec. 15 shooting left 20 children and six staff members dead.

    Some of the cards sent by the Sandy Hook Elementary School children featured drawings and handwritten messages such as “Thank you for saving us” and “4ever grateful for you.”

    “It is gratifying that the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School remembered us and took the time to communicate that in this special way,” Assistant YPD Chief Michael Patten wrote in an email to the News.

    In the wake of the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the YPD dispatched about 15 officers to Newtown in the week of Dec. 17–24, according to Patten. He added that the Yale police officers in Newtown played a variety of roles — from acting as motorcycle escorts for the funerals of the deceased, to helping patrol the town, to providing security at the schools and community center.

    “This tragedy touched everyone in such a visceral way, and it was good that we were able to play some small role in helping the Newtown community and our colleagues at Newtown Police Department,” Patten said.

  2. Theft strikes Morse, Stiles community

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    In a Friday email to Morse and Stiles students, Morse College Master Amy Hungerford and Ezra Stiles College Master Stephen Pitti ’91 warned students to keep their doors locked and watch out for unfamiliar faces after an Ezra Stiles student’s wallet, phone and keys were reported stolen in a computer lab shared by the two residential colleges.

    At the time of the theft, “a strange man was observed in the [computer lab] room, and some strangers were seen around Morse earlier today, in private areas of the college to which they should not have had access,” wrote Hungerford in her email. One of the individuals was a middle-aged man, Hungerford added, though she said she had no other information on the individuals.

    The Yale Police Department has responded to the reports and the theft is currently under investigation, according to Hungerford. She urged students to be extremely careful in keeping entryway and hallway doors locked in order to avoid piggybacking undesired strangers into the gates.

    The two colleges are currently frequented by workers addressing heating and plumbing problems, Hungerford said, adding that legitimate workers always wear “some kind of identifying gear” and that students are always notified when workers are scheduled to enter private areas to do necessary work.

    According to the most recent annual safety report released last fall, 18 burglaries were reported in Yale’s 12 residential colleges in 2011. In particular, in the fall of 2011, Davenport College was hit by a string of thefts, with five computers and other valuable digital devices stolen between September and October.

  3. Two assaults reported on campus

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    Roughly one week after the release of the Yale College Council’s campus safety report, Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins emailed the Yale community Monday night about two different assaults that were reported on campus earlier today.

    In a campuswide email sent Monday night, Higgins said around 6 p.m. a graduate student was assaulted by a group of teenage males riding bicycles in the area between Wall and High streets. Shortly afterwards, the Yale Police Department received a report that an undergraduate student had been assaulted by a group of male teenagers in the area of Wall and Temple streets.

    Both incidents seem to have been perpetrated by the same group of teenaged males, according to Higgins’ email.

    No weapons were displayed and no injuries were reported in either incident.

    Higgins’ message about the two assaults comes six days after the YCC released its first report on campus safety, which presented an array of safety issues ranging from poor lighting to insufficient officer presence in certain locations near or on Yale’s campus. Among the areas identified that needed lighting improvements was the corner of Wall and Temple streets, where the second assault occurred.

    The two assaults are currently under investigations by the YPD, Higgins wrote, adding that patrolling officers have been increased in the two areas.

    “Please be aware that there have been several incidents of robbery and assault throughout the city that have involved both male and female juveniles, either on foot or on bicycles traveling as a group with the intent of robbing and assaulting people,” Higgins wrote in his email.

    Anyone with knowledge of these incidents is encouraged to call the Yale Police at 203-432-4400 or text an anonymous tip to 6728.

  4. YCC releases campus safety report

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    The Yale College Council released its “campus safety report” today, presenting an array of Yale safety issues ranging from inadequate lighting to safety services.

    The report aims to synthesize student feedback generated from a form on the YCC’s website, a crowdsourcing Google Document that was sent to all undergraduates on Nov. 13 and a “lighting patrol” conducted by YCC representatives to investigate areas of campus reputed to suffer from poor lighting.

    YCC President John Gonzalez ’14 told the News Tuesday that the report aims to strengthen ongoing conversation with Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins.

    “We have been in constant contact with Chief Higgins, and often brought many student concerns to him,” Gonzalez said. “We thought what would be the most effective thing for our relationship moving forward would be to compile a campus safety report that he and the YPD could look through and begin addressing.”

    Despite nine reported crimes on or near Yale’s campus so far this academic year, the YCC report concludes that “the biggest concern that students had regarding student safety dealt with inadequate lighting around campus.”

    In response to a purported outcry for better lighting on campus, the report lists in detail student-reported lighting problems in addition to those “recorded by further investigation.” According to the list, high-risk areas include Temple Street in front of Timothy Dwight College, York Street in front of Davenport and Pierson colleges and Sachem Street by Ingalls Rink. Other issues reported include a poorly-lit Blue Phone behind Pierson College and two lights flickering outside of the Slifka Center.

    On the question of safety services, the report largely relates student satisfaction with the nature of current resources, including the desire to increase the quantity and availability of services such as safety rides and shuttles. According to the report, students looking to avoid wait time want more vehicles making the rounds. It can take “30 minutes plus,” the report quotes one student as having said, to use such services. One other suggestion includes allowing groups to preschedule safety rides after weekly meetings or other previously planned events.

    In a section of the report devoted to alcohol safety, the YCC excerpted a handful of comments that raise concerns about the University’s focus on discipline, which the report said dissuades students from getting the medical attention they need. Specific recommendations from students include no longer asking students at the hospital where they got their alcohol and creating “disciplinary amnesty for anybody who willingly goes to Yale Health.” Students also commented on the worrisome effects of Yale’s pervasive alcohol culture, with one student reporting that he or she is “uncomfortable to venture out on a Friday [and] Saturday night.”

     

  5. Two cases of sexual assault reported in past week

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    As the University continues its efforts to address sexual misconduct issues on campus, at least two separate cases of sexual assault were reported in the past week.

    Since Nov. 28, Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins has emailed members of the University community twice about different cases of sexual assault that had been reported on or near Yale’s campus. In a campuswide email sent yesterday, Higgins said the YPD received an anonymous report that a Yale student had reported being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance, who Higgins said is also a Yale student.  On Nov. 28, Higgins notified the community of a separate report of sexual assault that had been brought to the YPD’s attention, which occurred off campus and involved a Yale student and an acquaintance.

    The names and genders of the victims and aggressors were not disclosed.

    Both cases are currently under investigations by the YPD, Higgins wrote in the email, adding that he encourages members of the Yale community with knowledge of the incidents to call the Yale Police’s phone number at (203) 432-4400.

    Higgins also reminded students that they can seek help from the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response & Education Center (SHARE Center), a Title IX coordinator, the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, Yale University Health Services and victims’ advocacy services.