Story #1 First Draft

Using common sense and working together with police are keys to preventing and solving property crimes during the school year, said Chris Tennant, the Pullman Police Department Commander.

In a small college town like Pullman, property crimes can often be called opportunity crimes due to the lack of students taking preventive measures, said Tennant. For example, if the opportunity to steal something presents itself with little risk of being caught, students are more likely to commit that crime, he said.

According to statistics provided by the Pullman Police Department, there were over 30 reports of theft in December 2006, including four automobile theft reports. The report also lists 14 burglaries or home intrusions and 17 hit-and-run vehicle incidents.

“These crimes often result from a lack of common sense,” said Commander Chris Tennant. “Don’t leave your wallet sitting on the car dashboard, and lock your doors. Locks actually work and can deter a potential burglar from your house.” This takes away easy opportunities for someone to commit a crime against you, said Tennant.

Many of the crime reports come after someone throws a party at their house, said Tennant. “The owners throw a party, sell cups and alcohol, and eventually there are random people over who rob them blind.” Thinking ahead could have easily solved this problem, he said.

People need to realize that they can always be a victim, Tennant said. Doing this helps people recognize crime opportunities and prevent them from happening.

However some crimes can occur even when the victims are careful. Student Nicholas Kane lives on College Hill, and has to park his car on the street. Two weeks after buying new snow tires for his truck, he woke up to find two of them had been slashed.

“I was really angry because I knew the person got away with it, and I had to buy my own snow tires,” said Kane. “It was a situation of bad luck where I had to pay for another person’s crime.”

Crime solving is a partnership between the community and the police department, said Chris Tennant. “If you find yourself the victim of a crime, the first thing you need to do is actually report it.”

For example, students like Nicholas Kane may wake up and find that their tires have been slashed, and rather than report it, they assume nothing can be done and ignore it, said Tennant. The police may not always find out who slashed the tires, but they can do things like put more patrols in the area to prevent it from happening again.

“Looking back on it, I should have reported it to the police,” said Kane. “Over the next couple days about three more cars on my street had their tires slashed as well, and I’m guessing they could be related,” he said. “If I had called police maybe they would have been prevented, so hopefully one of the other victims reported it.”

Taking simple steps such as locking your doors, making smart decisions, and always reporting crimes to the police can really make a difference in the amount of crimes that occur in Pullman, said Tennant.