Written by: Yvette Alvarez
According to the Riverside Community College District crime logs from fall 2014 and spring 2015, a total of 22 hit and run / property damages incident were reported as compared to only 16 damages in the summer and fall this year.
The crime logs also a total of six acts of vandalism for the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters, with only two incidents reported this year. Additionally, a total of three vehicles were stolen in fall of 2014 and spring 2015, with only one vehicle stolen during summer and fall.
“I do feel unsafe especially at night due to the things I’ve heard that have happened before,” said RCC student Selene Vargas.
Although these numbers have not drastically decreased from one semester to the next, crime rates are lowering and will hopefully continue to lower throughout future semesters.
Fortunately, there has also been a decrease in accidents on RCC’s campus as well, “I think we have been pretty lucky this year and have not had very many incidents for the number of people that we have in vehicles, so we are fairly calm,” said Robert Kleveno, Sergeant for the RCC Safety and Police.
“We have not had a vehicle-pedestrian accident here probably within the last 18 months and even so the last one we had was a very minor injury,” said Kleveno. In spite of this, students need to be fully aware of their surroundings at all times. It is important for students to be alert, focused, and report anything suspicious to the College Safety and Police Department.
Sergeant Kelveno recommends that students always be aware of the traffic going on around them and not assume a driver will yield and give them right of way. Students should take these extra precautions in order to ensure their safety and to continue helping accident rates decrease.
If a student feels unsafe at any time of the day for any reason, they should not hesitate to call a community service officer at (951) 222-8171. The officers will gladly escort students from their car to any part on campus. Escorts are available upon request from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
