Beat Story #3:Trespassing on VCU's Campuses

Virginia Commonwealth University’s location in the heart of Richmond not only attracts people to its campuses for work, study and play, but also trespassing.

Take the example of the young man escorted out of the James Cabell Library March 2007 for allegedly masturbating in public. VCU Police later warned him that any future contact with him on campus would result in arrest, according to a VCU Rumor Mill post by Chief Willie B. Fuller of VCU Police on the VCU Student Government Association message board.

At the end of 2006, there were 242 cases of trespassing investigated by the VCU Police. As of April 16, 2007, 65 cases have been investigated.

Pamely Lepley, director of VCU University News Services, says that whenever there is an event that could affect the image of VCU, the first priority is not suing the media to put a “spin” on the event, but getting whatever information is needed out to the VCU community to keep them safe.

“That’s always a first priority,” she said.

Some students believe that VCU doesn’t attract any more trespassers than any other parts of the city. Derek Heilmann, a 20-year-old creative advertising major and student manager at the Commons, believes that the risk of trespassers comes with living in an urban center such as Richmond.

“I think people who would trespass are already in the area anyways,” he said. “I mean, it’s a big city, there are always people like that in a big city.”

Sgt. Sean M. Ingram, of the investigations unit of the VCU Police, says a person found to be trespassing on VCU property is not always the result of committing a crime. If the responding officer to a call or an officer on patrol has prior knowledge that the person in question is not associated with the university, then a Field Interview Card is completed. The card contains specifics about the person, details concerning the location, time and date of the stop, as well as if they were advised on their conduct.

“Should the person return again without legitimate reason, after being advised on trespassing and another VCU officer encounters this individual, they can be arrested for trespassing after being forbidden to do so,” he said.

Ingram says that ultimately, the decision on if someone is on campus legitimately is left to the responding officer, after determining if the person is a visitor to the campus who needs help, or someone who is lost.

“However, if an officer encounters a person at 1 a.m. in a certain area, there is reason to question why they are there,” he said.

Ashley Gaines, a 20-year-old exercise science major, believes that because of the size of VCU’s campus, it would be impossible to make sure that every person on campus is either a student or has an acceptable reason for being on the campus.

“There’s nothing that can be done because its (VCU’s campuses) are so big,” she said.