Over the course of the past few weeks, there have been several armed robberies that have taken place around campus.
The overall motive for these robberies are for people’s cellphones.
Each robbery has happened at a different time of the day, but the students who have been targeted are those who are texting on their phones, listening to music or focusing on something other than their surroundings.
Here at The Knight we are encouraging students to follow a few simple and life-saving steps.
The first being, put your phone in your pocket. Second, wait 10 minutes until you are home or safely inside to listen to music. And last but not least, look around at where you are every once in a while.
Now, we don’t want you to follow these guidelines because we are simply telling you to, it should be because you care about your personal safety.
In addition to these guidelines, we suggest you never walk home alone, follow the girl code of the “bathroom buddy,” and take advantage of the Gannon University Escort Service Team (G.U.E.S.T) if you do not have a friend to walk home with. Call 814-871-7260 to request assistance.
But, make sure you are aware of the radius Gannon sets for responding to calls and student services. The radius is from State Street to Chestnut Street and Third Street to 12th Street. Be aware of where you are walking and know the resources you have available to make it home safely.
Nobody should be in fear walking home from an on-campus location, but due to the frequency of robberies and offenses in the last month, we suggest being extra careful.