Parking lot safety in focus

With the start of a new semester comes a reminder for University personnel to be sure to lock their vehicles and hide any valuable items.

And efforts of the SIUC Department of Public Safety and Saluki Patrol have resulted in a "significant reduction” in criminal activity in parking lots across campus in the last four months.

Comparisons from August to November 2004 and August to November 2005 show a 65 percent drop in criminal activity, Public Safety Director Todd D. Sigler said.

"We just saw an unacceptable level of activity in the lots and we are trying to reduce that," he said.

Patrols are taking an aggressive approach to all suspicious activity that occurs in parking lots, including minor nuisance calls, Sigler said.

"We feel those are sometimes probably what contributes to other problems,” he said.