Campus Safety and Security over Holiday Breaks

By: Brian Best, Crime Prevention and Education Officer

Thanksgiving break went well for us here at Gonzaga. I hope the time with your students over the holiday was amazing. We are soon approaching the winter break, where most students will be leaving us for about month to be with their family and friends. Unfortunately, local thieves also know our student’s schedules.

We have put a lot of effort in over the last few years to help reduce criminal activity, on and around campus, during the breaks. We conduct extra patrols and a focused patrol plan to help minimize the property crimes.

All students are asked to park their vehicles on campus in designated areas, without the risk of getting ticketed or towed. We patrol these areas frequently. Cars parked on city streets may get ticketed for extended parking or towed in the event of a snowstorm, when plowing is scheduled.

We ask students to bring their bikes into their residence hall rooms during the break, so they are not a target of theft during that time. There have been thefts of bikes from balconies on the suite style residence halls. Please remind your students to keep their doors locked, including their sliding glass doors, even on the upper floors.

For the students that live off campus, we suggest they make sure all doors are locked and keep window coverings pulled.  If this is not possible, keep all items of value put away and out of sight.

One of the most important things would be to stop mail services or have everything delivered to the campus post office.  The link for stopping US mail for the holiday is: https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/

For any students who remain on campus over the break, help us by keeping an eye out and reporting anything suspicious to Campus Security in a timely manner.

Thank you and we hope the Christmas break is enjoyable for everyone and the return to campus in January is successful.

Merry Christmas from Campus Security & Public Safety