Crime Prevention

Most crimes reported to University Public Safety involve property rather than personal danger. You can minimize your chances of becoming a victim by remembering that college campuses are not immune to crime. Follow these common-sense rules:

LOCK UP!

• Lock your residence hall or apartment door, even when you’re home. Lock your car. Lock your bike. Lock your purse in a drawer in your office. 
• Lock your door when you leave, even if you’re only leaving “just for a minute.” It only takes a thief 10 seconds to take something from your room or office.
• Lock your door when you sleep, even in a residence hall.
• Don’t hide the key to your room or apartment outside. Thieves are more experienced than you at inventing — and discovering — such hiding places.
• Lock your bike to an immovable object with a maximum security bike lock.

DON'T LEAVE YOUR PROPERTY UNATTENDED . . .in the library, dining hall, classroom, restroom, or any campus facility.
Theft of backpacks and textbooks is common — the resale value of books makes them attractive targets for petty thieves. If you’re leaving for a minute, take your things with you.

• Don’t leave notes on your door announcing that you aren’t home.
• Don’t leave things in the laundry room.

IDENTIFY YOUR BELONGINGS.

Put your name and address on textbooks — inside the cover and on an inside page or two. Engrave your personal code on items that might interest a thief — television sets, stereo equipment, radios, cameras, computers, appliances, sports equipment, bicycles, and CD players.
Through Operation Identification, SMSU Public Safety makes easy-to-use engravers available to the campus community at no cost. Call 507-537-7252 to arrange for an engraver.

BE A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS.

You may know your neighbors in your residence hall or apartment building are fellow students — but what else do you know about them? At best, most of the people in your building will be acquaintances. Until you know them well enough to be friends, don’t take chances.

• Don’t lend your keys, student ID, driver’s license, or meal ticket to anyone.
• Don’t open a building door for a stranger who doesn’t have a key. Don’t prop open a door either — and if you see one that is propped open, close it.
• Report suspicious behavior immediately to the campus police.