St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s (SLMPD) Lieutenant Ken Lammert said the police have leads and have already recovered one student’s stolen cell phone.

Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2, six students reported themselves victims of robberies or attempted robberies in off-campus neighborhoods.

No students have been robbed off campus since the incidents, according to police reports.

While police departments around Washington University continue to track down the suspects, SLMPD began reducing neighborhood patrols back to normal about a week ago, Lammert said.

The University City Police declined to discuss the changes they made.

“We don’t give out numbers, we do exactly what we need to do,” University City Chief of Police, Charles Adams, said. “People that do bad things also read news too, so we don’t give out information.”

University City Police, Washington University Police (WUPD) and SLMPD responded to the crimes by increasing patrols in off-campus areas, particularly north of the Loop and in the Skinker-DaBaliviere neighborhoods where they took place. SLMPD added between two and four patrols immediately following the robberies.

Part of SLMPD’s effort involves tracking the victims’ credit cards, Lammert said. The suspects used students’ stolen credit cards at service stations monitored by video surveillance. Images of the suspects’ cars have been distributed within the police department.

One victim’s phone was found by tracking its GPS about a mile away from where it was stolen. The suspects appeared to have discarded it.

Lammert said that SLMPD will maintain directed patrols, meaning that the police will continue to focus on specific areas.

WUPD Chief Don Strom said that the patrols had increased “extensively” following the crimes, but would not go into specifics about current numbers.

“We can’t sustain those [additional patrols] forever, but as we think it’s appropriate we’ll reduce some of the patrols in the areas,” Strom said. “We may just change strategies so visibility remains high.”

Strom said he has received positive feedback about patrol visibility from both students and parents.

A University City Police Officer patrols the Loop in his squad car Sept. 22. In response to increased crime, local police departments have stepped up the number of patrols in the area. (Mariam Shasavarani | Student Life)

Students can expect to see Washington University police officers patrolling past Blueberry Hill by the end of the semester.

This fall, the Washington University Police Department is teaming up with officers from University City and St. Louis to form joint enforcement patrols in the Skinker-DeBaliviere and Delmar neighborhoods.

“There are times when you can partner together and maximize your resources,” Chief of Police Don Strom said. “I think this affords us an opportunity to do that, recognizing that we all have a very vested interest in the success of the Delmar Loop and the neighborhoods around it.”

The joint patrols, which are still being finalized logistically, will involve police officers from the University and surrounding cities patrolling the areas together. The aim is to facilitate inter-city security enforcement.

Legal issues related to officers’ jurisdiction when outside their base areas of operation are also being worked out.

“We’re looking to prepare some memorandums of understanding that would better articulate some of the jurisdictional issues,” Strom said.

Joint patrols are part of a larger partnership

The joint patrols come as part of a broader effort at collaboration between the University and University City police departments.

Last April, the University seeded a $40,000 pilot project for University City to enhance its police presence in the Loop. The University’s support came at the request of University City.

A significant part of the seed money went toward funding overtime pay for University City police officers.

Cheryl Adelstein, director of community relations and local government affairs at the University, said having officers work overtime was the most practical way for University City to increase its patrols in the Delmar and Skinker-DeBaliviere areas.

“Those departments don’t have just people that patrol those streets—they have beats,” Adelstein said. “So in order to get the kind of coverage that we were looking to have, you needed designated people. Those designated people, because nobody has huge police departments anymore, were basically on overtime.”

The University’s seed money also went toward funding four Cannondale bicycles for University City officers to ride while on patrol.

Heightened security seems to be making the Loop safer

Other security measures have been taken in addition to increased patrol officers in the area.

University-funded closed circuit TV cameras were installed on the Loop earlier this year, and the University City curfew was tightened last spring.

Previously, city curfew for those 16 years of age and under was from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays and midnight to 6 a.m. on weekends. Now, curfew for minors in that age group is 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. seven days a week, unless they are on business or accompanied by an adult.

Together with the increased security patrols, these measures seem to be making the Loop area safer, some students said.

Senior Courtney Tydus, who lives in the University Terrace apartments just off Delmar, said she feels safe living in the area, especially with the heavy police presence.

“I do feel relatively safe,” she said. “I’ve lived off campus in other neighborhoods, and I feel like it’s comparable safety-wise.”

Strom said he is unable to speak on behalf of University City to discuss recent trends in crime in the area, but from his perspective, security around Delmar seems to be improving.

“If you look at just a snapshot of crime in the area—comparing 2009 to 2008—there’s some promising results in there,” he said.