Advice From Police University Liaison Officer

Firstly I wish to welcome you to the beautiful city of Durham. We have a very low crime rate here compared to other cities in the UK and it is a very safe place to live. I would however give you some advice regarding crime prevention and personal safety. This is the same information that I give to all of our students and is largely commons sense.

As I have said, Durham is a safe place to live, but we do have some opportunist thieves who are on the look out for an easy target. Criminals know that students all have laptops, cell phones, IPods etc. They may know college timetables (meal times etc) so it is important to be on your guard. They also know that some students can be a little complacent and forget to lock things away. The main way in which student property is stolen is due to leaving windows and doors open and leaving valuables unattended and in public view. I therefore give a security talk to all freshers on a college basis outlining the following advice:

- Lock doors / windows when leaving the room, even if only for a short time. It only takes seconds for a thief to reach through an open window and steal your property.
- Remove valuables from sight. Don’t leave anything unattended next to a window. Lock laptops away, place in a cupboard or under a bed, out of sight. If an opportunist thief looks through your window and can’t see anything worth stealing then chances are he/she will move on.
- Mark your property with a UV pen. When dry, your details are invisible to the naked eye. If your property was lost/stolen and recovered by the Police, we would shine a UV light on the property and your contact details would be seen making it easier for your property to be returned to you. I supply a UV pen to all students and also hold property marking days where I will come to college and mark bikes, laptops, TV’s, DVD’s etc.
- Don’t leave property unattended. This includes bedrooms, libraries, clubs etc. Get a friend to watch your belongings or take them with you.
- If going out on a night, close curtains and leave a light on to give the impression you are still at home.
- Consider using a timer switch for a lamp and/or hi-fi to make the room appear occupied.
- While on campus, don’t leave doors propped open, make sure they close behind you, and don’t hold them open for someone you don’t know.
- Report anything suspicious to university security and/or the police.

Violent crime is not something that happens regularly at all in Durham, but again you need to use your common sense when out and about.

- Try to avoid going out alone especially on a night. Go with friends.
Know your route. I have had some students go out on a night and get lost on the way back!
- Avoid poorly lit areas. Durham riverbanks are one such area. The area is poorly lit because we don’t want people there on a night where they can easily become disoriented, vulnerable and possibly fall in.
- Stay where there is good street lighting.
- Consider carrying a personal alarm. It is illegal to carry mace in this country.
- Try not to go to the ATM at night, but if you have to then go with friends.
- Try and keep cell phone calls to a minimum outside at night, where people can see you are on the phone because it is illuminated. This can sometimes make you a target for thieves.
- Don’t leave drinks unattended. Drink spiking is not common, but can happen.
- Drink sensibly. The vast majority of problems caused and experienced by students are alcohol related.
- Report any problems to me / Police (0345 6060 365).

I give out various crime prevention / personal safety leaflets to all new students and have a police stall at the freshers fair and International students fair so I look forward to meeting you. Again I would remind you that Durham is a very safe place and I am sure you will enjoy your time here, but if you need anything at all please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Phil Raine

University Liaison Officer

Durham City Police Office

Please follow us as www.twitter.com/DurhamUniPol

:yep:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 1

chidona

This is actually really good, I think. Good on you for posting here.

It's simply astounding how many laptops are stolen because people leave windows open...

Durham University

Durham

Visit website

Reply 2

DurhamUniPol

Thanks very much for your reply. Your'e right about the laptops. The vast majority of student laptops are stolen because of open windows. The thief doesn't even have to break into the room !! It's often not just a case of getting a new computer. Many students have lost valuable information and had to do the work over again.
Hopefully we can continue to get the message out for everyone to be more security conscious and keep their belongings and important college work safe.

Enjoy your time here.

phil

Reply 3

Kali_89

DurhamUniPol

Good chatting to you tonight! Just to say that one of the reasons why you may have so few views is that you've got two threads in different forums.

Also, I only gave you the code for the doors because you were clearly police and so I hope not to see headlines of 'police manage to access student halls' because burglars couldn't. Also I got groped repeatedly with those weird hands you were giving out!

The X-factor people xxx

Advice From Police University Liaison Officer

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you