At times I wonder why the University of Minnesota even tells us anything at all about crimes. Is it a scare tactic to be vague with details, not giving crucial information to the general public and student body, while allowing those to speculate, while criminals run at large? Is it to show they (campus police and administration) are on it?
What purpose do crime alert emails serve?
Recently, because of issues with defining distinct aspects of an individual’s appearance within crime alerts, the student body no longer has access to pertinent and informative accounts or descriptions of suspects who commit crimes on victims at gunpoint near or around campus.
Not only is the act of ambiguity within these emails confusing, it enables more crime. Perchance, if a criminal were under the impression that a criminal’s description was forbidden from being released to the general public and student body, then why would that criminal be apprehensive about committing the same crime again?
It appears to me that if there are no repercussions to committing a crime, why wouldn’t a criminal do it again? Sharing the identity, description and appearance of a suspect is imperative in creating a safe campus community.
To be straightforward, if a person commits a crime, the gender, sex, attire and physical appearance witnessed comes into play as that person’s identity.
That unique identity makeup, appearance, description and those characteristics of a person do not have the right to be protected or withheld from the general public by an administration, specifically for the safety of the law abiding citizen.
If I walk outside, my identity is visible — I am visibly unique as an individual, at most. A victim should have the right to be able to use and share that information to help identify a suspect while informing others of this information.
These aimless emails, “crime alerts,” do nothing to create community awareness, they only act as vague warnings to those who venture out into society, while shielding actual criminals. Perhaps “crime alerts” should say, “Be afraid, stay inside or fear the unknown.”
Moreover, the student body receives emails of this type more frequently (especially in the warm months), with little to no detail of the culprit. I say, let someone else write these emails, someone with more imagination, if you want to keep them vague. Perhaps have a sketch artist come in, draw a cartoon, I don’t know.
Otherwise, every email would be the same, non-descriptive and useless, and go something like this, “A human being robbed another human being. I thought you should know. Try to be safe out there.”
