Addressing Safety at Rutgers

March 15, 2004

Members of the Rutgers Community:

Earlier today, the New Brunswick Police Department announced the arrests of two suspects in connection with the robbery, burglary, and sexual assault that took place March 8 in a Stone Street apartment near the College Avenue campus in New Brunswick. The Rutgers University Police Department has been working in cooperation with New Brunswick in an exhaustive investigation of these crimes and is working closely with the city to identify and arrest other suspects in the case.

We are gravely concerned about these and other crimes that have victimized Rutgers students and caused understandable apprehension among many people in our community. As the university continues to assist in investigating these cases, we are also working to address the general safety of our students.

The RUPD has increased patrols in the 5th and 6th wards of New Brunswick, which they perform in collaboration with the city police. In addition, New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill and I met jointly with the heads of our police departments last week to discuss specific steps that can be taken to protect students and the community more effectively.

As we pursue these important steps, we also encourage you to be aware of the services offered by our Division of Public Safety to help prevent crime. These include programs on crime prevention offered by our community policing officers and Security Officer Escorts for pedestrians on any campus who wish to be escorted to their campus residence, other university facility, or their vehicle. For information, please visit the division’s website at http://publicsafety.rutgers.edu/ or call the police department on your campus (New Brunswick/Piscataway: 732-932-7211; Camden: 856-225-6009; Newark: 973-353-5581).

Please know that Rutgers is committed to providing a secure environment on and around all our campuses, where people can live, work, and learn safely.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey