2008 Woodie Awards
Smile, you're on 'Campus Camera'
By Anna Dolianitis, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/6/06 Section: News
"I was really happy that they had the cameras on campus. I never really thought about how useful they could be until I became a victim," said Cassandra Klimkutz.
During finals week of last semester, Klimkutz and her neighbor in the Field residence hall in Orchard Hill were victims of vandalism to their dorm room doors.
"Dining commons compost, worms, and who knows what else was thrown at our doors and our rooms were ruined to the point where we couldn't even live there for the rest of the year," said Klimkutz.
"After the event, we had no leads and there were no witnesses to help identify possible suspects, but the cops were able to access security cameras in the entrance of my dorm as well as the other dorms in the area and from that were able to eventually identify who the vandals were," said Klimkutz.
One of the students responsible was later charged with Malicious Destruction of Property and was ordered to pay fines, while the other two students were not charged, according to Klimkutz.
"I would definitely feel much safer with the cameras on campus, and I never thought I would say that, because I am sure that before this incident, I would always say that they were a complete invasion of privacy," said Klimkutz.
In September 2005, a suspicious man was seen entering a dorm room in the Van Meter residence hall in the Central Residential Area, and the UMPD asked students to call the confidential police tip line with any information on the man.
Earlier in 2005, security cameras observed an armed robbery in the same residence hall, however, the robbers left when an alarm sounded.
The increase in security comes following a report released by ABC Primetime News last November, which declared that UMass has the highest violent crime rate of any school in the nation equal to its size. This assertion outraged UMass officials, drawing criticism of being "inaccurate and badly flawed in its methodology," from a November 2005 press release from the UMass News Office.
During finals week of last semester, Klimkutz and her neighbor in the Field residence hall in Orchard Hill were victims of vandalism to their dorm room doors.
"Dining commons compost, worms, and who knows what else was thrown at our doors and our rooms were ruined to the point where we couldn't even live there for the rest of the year," said Klimkutz.
"After the event, we had no leads and there were no witnesses to help identify possible suspects, but the cops were able to access security cameras in the entrance of my dorm as well as the other dorms in the area and from that were able to eventually identify who the vandals were," said Klimkutz.
One of the students responsible was later charged with Malicious Destruction of Property and was ordered to pay fines, while the other two students were not charged, according to Klimkutz.
"I would definitely feel much safer with the cameras on campus, and I never thought I would say that, because I am sure that before this incident, I would always say that they were a complete invasion of privacy," said Klimkutz.
In September 2005, a suspicious man was seen entering a dorm room in the Van Meter residence hall in the Central Residential Area, and the UMPD asked students to call the confidential police tip line with any information on the man.
Earlier in 2005, security cameras observed an armed robbery in the same residence hall, however, the robbers left when an alarm sounded.
The increase in security comes following a report released by ABC Primetime News last November, which declared that UMass has the highest violent crime rate of any school in the nation equal to its size. This assertion outraged UMass officials, drawing criticism of being "inaccurate and badly flawed in its methodology," from a November 2005 press release from the UMass News Office.
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