UCPD officers will step up patrols and take extra precautions following a string of armed robberies on the east side of campus over the past two weeks.
Four armed robberies and one assault with a deadly weapon occurred on Gayley Road near the Foothill Residence Hall and Stern Hall between April 27 and May 7, according to UCPD crime logs.
“We are investigating … all the different robberies on Northside in general,” said UCPD spokesperson Lt. Eric Tejada. “We are going to step up plain clothes- and undercover-type patrols and have targeted patrols in (the Gayley Road) area.”
The first armed robbery occurred on Gayley Road on April 27 around 11:04 p.m., and a second attempted robbery occurred on April 30 in the same area around 9:15 p.m.
On May 4 around 9:34 p.m., two UC Berkeley students were walking on Gayley Road when both were shot by a paintball gun when suspects driving by in a black sedan allegedly fired at them from the passenger window. Neither victim needed medical attention, according to the UCPD crime alert.
At around 10:34 p.m. on the same night, three UC Berkeley students were robbed in front of Stern Hall.
The most recent armed robbery on Gayley occurred Monday night around 8:10 p.m. in front of the Greek Theatre when a victim’s laptop was taken, according to a UCPD crime alert.
Deepika Bhatnagar, a freshman who lives in the Foothill Residence Hall, said she feels that Foothill is safe relative to the other units on Southside.
“I tend to not walk around by myself ever since it’s Berkeley — you never know what’s going to happen,” Bhatnagar said. “No one I know has been robbed or anything, so because of that, I don’t feel threatened.”
Tejada said he advises students to use the BearWALK service the campus provides at night and to use better judgement when walking alone at night.
“Many times it involves people talking on their cell phone or (being asked) to use a cell phone,” he said. “Don’t have a cell phone out or ear buds in both ears, and use good judgement if something doesn’t feel right in an area where there aren’t many people around.”
Anjuli Sastry is an assistant news editor.
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Having “yellowjackets” on each corner around campus would probably cut down crime significantly. It’s worked wonders for USC. They literally have someone at every intersection for something like a 2-3 block radius around their campus.
UCB (and the City of Berkeley) need more security cameras to catch and deter the criminals victimizing our community.
creepy
maybe if we analyzed the greater context in which these robberies are occurring we can develop realistic and comprehensive management techniques. band-aid solutions, demonizing, and fear-inducing news reports are not going to decrease crime. nor are increased police presence, nor increased arrests.
What the heck…?
I live in this area, and yet this is the first time I hear about this? This should be on posters around all entry/exit points of Foothill and Stern. I walked back home alone late last night; I never would have if I knew these robberies happened!
The only reason why I am reading the Daily Cal at the moment before finals is because one of my classmates told me about the suicide at Unit 2. Daily Cal, you should at least distribute this crime info for people who prefer not to read your political bs or at least the ones who don’t read newspapers during finals week because they’re focusing on exams. This is really concerning.
For the money we are paying to go here, we should feel and be safe. I am surprised parents haven’t stepped in to make sure their kids are safe. This is supposed to be the R1 institution, it should have prime security for every student on campus, as they are paying quite a substantial amount to go here. Bearwalk is not helpful at all. Most of the time they evade your request by suggesting to take the shuttle. WTF? The street are not safe!
Robbers, muggers are just redistributing wealth.
Look at all the assaults and armed robberies that UCPD cannot prevent!
How much does UC pay Brett Sokolow, JD to spin the authoritarian fantasy that he knows how to predict violence on campus? (Full time monitoring and electronic record-keeping of every persons’ mood, facial expressions, offhand comments, punctuality or lack thereof, etc. but he swears to god it’s not ‘Big Brother’! Don’t take my word for it, look in to the matter for yourself.)
How many parents fall for UC’s tall tales of “your kids are safe with us”?
how many more years of authoritarianism?
how much more fear-mongering hysteria?
how much more $$$ spent?
how many more legal loop holes?
UPCD can look at your medical and mental health records w/o any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, can disclose that info at will to 3rd parties and can avoid telling you they’ve done this – all perfectly legal under FERPA. Yikes!