It has been many years since the Tufts campus experienced a crime as shocking as yesterday's armed robbery in South Hall. Two individuals, most likely not students, were given access to the dorm by their victims and left with $1,800 in valuables. There were no injuries, but the case nonetheless demands an extensive investigation to assure students, and their parents, that the campus is safe. Swift and coordinated police action by the Tufts University Police Department and the Somerville Police Department would send the clear message that crimes of this nature will not be treated with Res Life leniency.
The investigation will not be easy. There was an inexplicable 40-minute delay between the crime and the call to the police, and though the perpetrators called their victims from a blue-light phone prior to the robbery, the victims said could not identify the suspects.
The police are correctly focusing on the delay, but are aware that the students could have acted out of fear, or a desire to collect themselves before facing the authorities. Before focusing the investigation on forensic evidence, however, the police should work to clarify the mysterious relationship between the victims and perpetrators.
In the aftermath of a crime, there is an alarmist tendency to institute heightened security measures and the University police are justified in defending the status of campus safety. Many schools, primarily, though not exclusively, in urban environments, place security guards in dorm lobbies and implement strict policies concerning guests. Tufts, however, has an excellent campus safety record, and the addition of security guards to dorms would be an inappropriate response to a random criminal act, which was startling because of the rarity of crime in the sleepy suburbs of Medford and Somerville.
While students should not be overly shaken by yesterday's crime, they should realize Tufts is not completely immune from criminal activity. Each semester, there are a handful of incidents of petty theft and assaults between students and members of the surrounding community. Students are justified to take precautions to keep their neighbors and belongings safe, but the student body should not fall victim to paranoia or exaggerate the dangers of life on campus.
