Security has been ramped up near the doors to maintain the safety of students living on campus.
Student housing has hired private security guards to supplement CSUN police and residential advisers who monitor the dorms.
“I live on the third floor so I feel pretty safe,” said English major Stephanie Jones, 21.
Jones and freshman Brishay Anderson, 18, said they have heard stories about people breaking into the dorms and others getting into fights, but have not heard or seen anything this semester that has worried them.
“I live on the first floor, so I hear a lot of things but I haven’t heard anything recently so I feel pretty safe,” Anderson said.
She said that the first floor has ground level windows, which lead students to be more wary of break-ins.
The annual Clery Report lists the crimes that have occurred on campus over the last year and support a trend of lessening dorm crimes.
The report lists one rape occurring in on-campus housing over the last 3 years and the other crimes are limited to thefts and a limited number of simple assault cases.
Students can also check the daily crime log to find crimes or thefts that have occurred in the dorms. The most recent crimes have been limited to vandalism in a dorm bathroom on Oct. 6, a stolen Nintendo 3DS from a dorm room on Oct. 4, and a traffic stop on Oct. 1 by the dorms that resulted in a marijuana possession citing; all of which are relatively minor crimes.
Anderson said she has seen the security guards patrolling the dorms along with the RAs.
A two-person team of officers called the Community Policing Team have been monitoring the dorms with police since 2004, said Christina Villalobos, spokeswoman for CSUN police. They work Wednesday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The team holds security training and awareness meetings with RAs and students when they request help educating themselves on personal safety, Villalobos said.
CSUN’s dorm crimes are comparatively low, with LAPD Devonshire division, the area that patrols the community around CSUN, listing 17 rapes and six homicides in the area from January to date.
“Compared to what you read about and hear about on the news about the area, I feel very safe in the dorms,” said sociology major Caroline Sachs, 19.
Practices like locking of the gates at 7 p.m. and rules about checking in guests give them an additional feeling of security, Sachs said.
Guests are allowed to enter and stay overnight in the dorms as long as proper procedure is followed. The guest must be registered by 3 p.m. the day before they are to stay and must wear a clearly visible guest pass while in the housing complexes.
These and other rules regarding non-residents are clearly outlined when one moves into the dorms and there are consequences if rules are broken.
“Not just anyone can come in and you have to go through the security guard and get clearance once the gate is locked,” Jones said.
While on-campus housing may be more expensive than some off-campus options, the peace of mind it gives Sachs makes it worth it to her.
“I don’t regret living in the dorms,” Sachs said. “With school and work, I like knowing that security and everything is taken care of for me, it takes some stress off.”
