It was made clear to me early this semester, when my backpack was stolen from the Downtown Milwaukee Campus gym, that our Public Safety Department is inept. From the start, they gave me the runaround. Immediately after my backpack was discovered missing I ran up to the Public Safety booth on the second floor of the M Building where a public safety officer was the first to see me.
He looked as if he was going on break or leaving for the day, and maybe that accounts for his swift dismissal of me.
He told me I would be better off going across the street to the First District to get help because he was not available and the other officers were busy, too.
That, to say the least, was frustrating. I felt as though they didn’t care that my personal property was taken from me just minutes ago.
I knew they had cameras in the gym and elsewhere throughout the school, as I saw them when I walked up to the booth.
I feel they could have easily reviewed the cameras and tracked not only a good picture of who took my bag, but also where he or she went afterward.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it turned out. I had to leave the building, go across the street to the First District, wait in line to walk through the metal detectors and find the right floor to file my complaint.
When I made it to the right room, I saw there was a line wrapped around the corner.
Already frustrated enough, I decided I couldn’t wait in that line.
As I was leaving, a Milwaukee police officer there must have seen how upset I was and asked what was wrong.
I explained my situation to him. He was kind enough to let me use his office phone to cancel my credit cards.
The Milwaukee police officer also had me call my neighbors to watch my house since the thief had my ID and house keys.
He even offered me a bus ticket to get home since my car keys were also in my bag. Public Safety offered none of this.
I returned later to Public Safety to fill out a report just in case someone found an item or two of mine and turned it in to lost and found.
That’s when I was told it was not worth it to review the tapes of the crime scene.
They stated that there would be no way to prove that it was my book bag the thief was walking away with.
I tried saying that even if they couldn’t technically say whether or not it was my bag, I would know.
Plus, I would also have at least appreciated an opportunity to see if the cameras showed where he or she went, if the thief was still in the building, or what exit the thief took so I could go look to see if the thief threw any of my stuff out on the street.
A month and a half later, a Public Safety officer came to my math class and gave me my student and state ID, which was found outside in an alley.
Nothing else was ever found. Public Safety could have handled this situation so much better.
There was no reason to refuse my request to see if the thief was visible on camera.
At the very least, a video could have been provided to the police.
They could have offered me a phone so I could call to cancel credit and bank cards, and inform my neighbors to keep watch over my home.
But, at the very least, those at Public Safety, could have acted like they cared because they do ultimately work for us, don’t they?
