University Trails resident and University of Mississippi student DJ Gregory has started a petition to promote more advanced security after several break-ins and a student being held at gunpoint a few weeks ago.
“These apartment complexes are so close to the campus and historic Oxford Square, yet there is still so much crime and very little protection of students and residents,” said Gregory, a junior political science major.
He was a victim of a break-in a couple months ago and said $800 worth of electronics were stolen. He said he found the security unacceptable.
“The most the management of the apartments could tell us to do was to lock our doors,” he said.
The petition he started to turn in to the complex has gotten a wide range of community attention, as it received about 60 signatures within a matter of two days.
“We feel our property, more importantly our safety, is at grave risk, and the management seems to care very little about those that pay rent here,” Gregory said. “We want them to know our disdain.”
University Trails apartment manager Augusta Dunazin said ensuring the protection of students and their belongings isn’t easy and it is sometimes beyond the management’s control.
“Crime in Oxford always increases over the holidays when students go home, and unfortunately, this is not something that we can 100 percent prevent,” she said.
Oxford Police Chief Mike Martin agrees.
“Most of the burglaries that occur at these apartment complexes are gonna be at times when there are holidays,” Martin said. “We always tell people to carry small things home with them when they leave.”
Danielle Bean, a junior broadcast journalism student living in the community, said she does not feel very protected in her own home.
“(I) don’t feel safe anymore and I don’t imagine that anyone would,” Bean stated. “It’s not a safe place and they’re not a very productive apartment complex.”
It was said by many that security measures at the apartment buildings are not up to par and there were many things that could be done to increase the safety of individuals who reside there.
“University Trails needs to work on their security for the safety of people,” said Aisha Lions, a senior forensic chemistry major and resident at University Trails.
“The most important thing is to be alert,” Chief Martin warns to residents of the apartment complexes.
Bean said the recent crimes that have occurred at the complex have changed her perspective.
“I trusted this place to be my home for a couple of years and it’s not a home anymore,” Bean said.
Campus News Editor Jennifer Nassar contributed to this report.
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