Las Positas College’s crime-rate is on the same level as an elementary school in suburbia.
“There is a report online that shows all community colleges in California and their crime statistics,” said Sean Prather, head of campus security. “Every year if you look at the stats of all community colleges, we are always near the bottom.”
Crimes that are committed can be something as meager as taking a ballpoint pen to the whitewalls of Building 2400’s restrooms. The good news for campus security is that they only have to deal with small alcohol and marijuana offenses, vandalism’s and petty thefts. The bad news is, most their day to day activities only consist of writing parking tickets.
In terms of vandalism, all instances are elementary. Most of these occur in the 2400 bathrooms, with four instances in March alone. The others occurred throughout the parking lot, leaving custodians throughout campus stuck with painting over chicken scratch on a pole.
“A majority of these (vandalisms) happen in the restrooms,” Prather said. “We can’t put cameras in the restroom. We have cameras all over campus, but legally you can’t put cameras in a bathroom”
Still, students are still insistent on taking their pens to the whitewalls, rather than using it on paper.
Alcohol and drug violations are also low, with only six instances reported in 2011. These occur every year at every college campus, but LPC students seem to save the booze and joints for after school.
“Every year we have alcohol and marijuana violations, but nothing out of control,” Prather said.
The most recent theft occurred in July of this year during summer school. A student was caught stealing a rear-view camera in the Auto lab. This is among the worst crimes committed at LPC, giving an idea of how rather uneventful a typical security officer’s day is.
In rather uneventful fashion, Las Positas boasts one of the lowest crime rates throughout all community colleges. Campus security has been reduced to chasing down vandals with ballpoint pens, hoping for the next big bust.
So the next time you scold a campus security officer for writing you a ticket, because you did not buy a parking pass. Remember, they are responsible for one of the lowest crime rates reported among community colleges. If you do not wish to run into campus security heckling you, just buy a parking pass, and keep your pens on paper, not bathroom walls.
