By Devyn Briones
Arts & Entertainment Editor
The Signal and Campus Police work together on a weekly basis to inform the campus community about crime on and around campus. All records given to The Signal are public records and do not contain personal information. Some information provided may be triggering for some students.
Feb. 3 & Feb. 10: Sprinkler outburst
At approximately 4:19 p.m., a Campus Police officer noticed water leaking from a pipe from Building 700, a building near the Fitness Center in Campus Town. The fire alarm went off, and both Building 700 and those occupying the Fitness Center were evacuated. A sprinkler head burst was the cause.
Prospect Heights Fire Department Engines 31 and 33 arrived at the scene and told residents that they could not reenter the building. Harring Fire Protection was contacted to fix the sprinkler head, but would not arrive for another two and a half hours. Affected residents received an email stating they could not reenter the building until the sprinkler head is fixed, but could go to any of the lobbies in Campus Town, retail stores, Brower Student Center and the Recreation Center.
At approximately 8:05 p.m. on Feb. 10, Campus Police officers were driving along Pennington Road when they observed a firetruck in Campus Town. Ewing Fire Squad 30 and Prospect Heights Engine 31 were on scene, and students had already evacuated the building.
It was found that a sprinkler pipe, the same one from Feb. 3, burst on the opposite side of Building 700, causing water to leak from the door. The cold temperature was found to be the reason for its second burst.
Feb. 9: Swiped laptop
A student in possession of a laptop belonging to the College reported it as stolen, along with her apartment being burglarized the same morning. It is concluded that the approximate value of the laptop, and monetary loss to the College, is approximately $240.
Feb. 4-14: Fire alarms on fire alarms on fire alarms
There were six fire alarms from Feb. 4-14, occurring in Forcina Hall, Decker Hall, Eickhoff Hall and others. The causes for the alarms ranged from smoke alarms, burnt popcorn, hair straightening and marijuana. There was no smoke or fire reported in any instances.
Feb. 10: Off-key break-in
Campus Police were dispatched to the Music Building basement to obtain information about a possible theft. The “instrument storage” room, which holds high-value items such as instruments, seemed to be tampered with. An urgent repair was submitted immediately after noticing the damage to the door, but the maintenance worker concluded it would be best to involve Campus Police as evidence pointed that the door was forcibly broken into and remained unlocked.
The card reader was hanging off the wall and appeared to be stricken. The inner lock of the door itself had a pencil wedged inside, and the interior door handle was stuck in the downward position, ultimately preventing proper securing of the room.
There were no other significant damages and no information that would lead to what items have been taken. Currently, there are no suspects.
Feb. 14: Anonymous articles
At approximately 11:30 a.m., Campus Police met with the College’s Men’s Basketball coach along with a student and basketball player, who received a manila envelope in the Men’s Basketball mailbox. The envelope did not have a return address, but was mailed from the zip code 08542, which is Princeton, New Jersey.
The envelope contained 19 pages of various articles and comic strip cartoons about pro-women’s reproductive rights, pro-sex education, pro-vaccine and anti-religion, although it wasn’t identified which religion(s) to be problematic.
The student and coach were unaware of who could have possibly mailed the articles. However, there was an article in the Trentonian newspaper about the College’s Men’s Basketball which could have publicized the name and randomly caused someone to send them.
