By: Sean Flavin
PEORIA, Ill. – As if assaulted by a torn bag of skittles,
the interactive crime map of Peoria is littered with multi-colored dots, each
of them signifying another statistical loss for law enforcement officials.
Amongst the dots, surrounded by the crime, is a relatively
unblemished territory not far from the top of the main street hill. Bradley
University’s campus, along with the area extending 500 feet in all directions, seems
to be an oasis of safety.
That is not to say Peoria is a hot bed of criminal activity,
far from it. In 2011, the city did not even crack the top 300 in cities with
the highest crime rate. It wasn’t even the most dangerous Peoria in the
country. Peoria, Ariz. claimed that distinction, finishing 225 places ahead of
its Midwestern counterpart.
It is the centralization of Peoria’s crime – the Illinois
one, not the one from Arizona – that strikes you when looking at the crime map
provided by Peoria Police Department’s website. A wall of reported crime
appears to extend miles deep from the river as if protecting the city from
flood.
The city is split up into 19 police zones. Bradley University
is in zone three. The zone is one of the highest in reported crime. According
to their website, the Peoria Police Department reported 116 crimes in the area
in between March 24 and April 23.
In that same time period, Bradley’s bubbled oasis – comprising
about a third of the area – reported only 10 incidents.
The man charged with the campus’ safety is Bradley
University Police Chief Brian Joschko. Joschko arrived in the summer of 2010
from Marquette University and brought a new approach to the department.
“Our patrol mission and patrol philosophy is an area that I
have talked with our officers (about) and it’s changing the mentality of being
a responsive driven agency,” said Joschko, “to more of a preventative,
community oriented (and) proactive type of patrolling. Where officers are out
and about and talking to people.”
His approach is a stark contrast from his predecessor’s. And
lingering feelings of distrust remain near campus.
“I think (the BUPD) needs to focus a little more on safety
than on underage drinking,” said Mary Goldkamp, a 2011 graduate of Bradley. “On
weekends I don’t really ever see them around.”
Fellow Bradley alum, Lauren Fog still lives near campus and
shares Goldkamp’s concerns about the campus police focus.
“Every single weekend
they used to do taskforce,” Fog said. “I guess it might have changed now, but I
still remember that.”
In Joschko’s first year he has responded by addressing a
leading safety concern on-campus, and it was not underage drinking.
Bradley student off-campus housing reported 12 instances of
burglaries during the 2009-10 winter break. In 2010-11 that number rose to 13.
In 2011, the Bradley police department introduced their
Vacant House Program. The initiative allowed Bradley students to register their
houses during winter break and Bradley police would include them in their
patrol.
“It is very time consuming to run that program, and it takes
a significant toll on manpower anytime you have to go and physically walk
around 40 houses every shift,” said Joschko.
The department’s diligence paid off. The program’s first
year saw a significant decline in burglaries.
“I think it was incredibly successful we ended up with
forty-some houses that had registered for it, which is a little over a 100
people that lived in the houses (that) took advantage of the program,” said
Joschko. “We went down from 13 burglaries down to three.”
This 77 percent decline was not reflective of how the rest
of the city fared. Through February, Peoria’s burglary rate was up 52 percent
and with an overall crime spike of 28 percent.
An odd case did arise from the program’s inaugural campaign,
of the three houses reporting burglaries; one was actually on the vacant house
list. Shortly after the house was broken into, Bradley police reported
suspicious activity in the neighborhood. The activity turned out to be
unrelated but the call put Peoria police on alert and they apprehended three
men who had made it a few miles away from campus.
A search of the men’s home turned-up about $20,000 in stolen
property, including the property from the students’ residence.
Peoria’s proximity to zones with high-criminal activity is
not the only cause of these kinds of crimes.
“We have very few incidents where we have forced entry into
residence halls or we have forced entry
into vehicles … most of them are
unsecured, unattended property,” Joschko said.
“This really was a random act they were walking back through
campus and saw a house and it was a moment of opportunity and they took
advantage of that opportunity.”
This is why the term ‘Bradley Bubble’ seems so fitting. The
campus is not an impenetrable wall; closed off to any outsiders. Nor should it
be.
If history is any indication; crimes will occur, items of
value will be stolen, and property will be damaged.
So next year, Joschko and his officers will run the program
again.
“I’d be very happy if 50 houses had registered. I think that
that is a very manageable number,” Joschko said.
So if 40 is time consuming? And the new goal is 50? What
would 80 houses amount to for department?
“(Laughter) that’s a good problem to have I suppose.”
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