Crime reduced

Finding itself in a low-income area, Contra Costa College isn’t always the safest place for people to walk about, especially at night.

And one place in particular on the campus that is notoriously targeted by criminals is the Bus Transfer Center.

The Bus Transfer Center, in recent years, had seen a steady rise in crime, until earlier this year.

On March 30, CCC had security cameras installed to monitor students, bus patrons and criminal activity in the area.

A major contributor to the crime problem is the fact that the buses that pass through the Bus Transfer Center are not reserved solely for CCC students and staff.

Anyone can ride on them, including potential criminals.

With this in mind, in the 2011-12 college year a total of 11 crimes took place at the Bus Transfer Center that required district Police Services response. The crimes were mostly theft and robbery.

Since the installation of the cameras, the Bus Transfer Center has had only one crime reported this semester, a student who was assaulted by her boyfriend.

Without the cameras the police would have had to question both people involved in the incident, and would have to rely only on policing skills to determine what happened.

But now with video footage the police can determine the truth by seeing what actually happened.

Last year, with every crime committed, the Bus Transfer Center’s sinister reputation grew.

However, having video available has made the center a safer place to sit and wait for transportation.

Crime has already taken its toll on the morale of people living in the area surrounding the college, and hopefully with time the Bus Transfer Center’s poor stature will strengthen.

In addition, although the cameras have deterred criminals from assaulting innocent people and have helped in solving crimes that have already been committed, some students look at them as an invasion of their privacy.

This is true.

If you find yourself waiting for a bus at CCC, you are being watched. But behind that is the idea that anyone possibly trying to harm you is also being watched.

A college should be a safe place for students to freely come and go and obtain an education. Whether or not a student obtains that education is up to the amount of work he or she does.

But ensuring that the campus is safe for its students is up to Police Services and the college’s administration.

And at the moment, it would seem they are doing their job.