Campus police station in Placer Hall
Photo by Dani Ramirez
Written by Steven Mynott
On Feb. 25, the University Police Department sent out an email to everyone on campus that warned of a strong-arm robbery that took place at approximately 10 p.m. the night before outside of Malibu Hall.
The email included details of the alleged incident: “A female residential student was approached by a Hispanic male near between Malibu Hall and Town Center on Tuesday evening around 10:00PM, was grabbed by the neck and her wallet was taken from her pocket. Additionally, there was a scuffle between the Parties resulting in minor injuries to the victim. There was no weapon involved. The suspect fled the scene immediately afterwards in an unknown direction.” The email also claimed that the incident represented a serious or continuing threat to the campus community. After receiving the warning, students on campus expressed concern.
Lauren Hicks, senior nursing major, was shocked. “I was just shocked because Camarillo’s a very safe area,” Hicks said. “I genuinely was just shocked from it. I didn’t expect something like that. I know things can happen pretty much anywhere, but specifically on campus, specifically, also because we have a police station on campus, so I feel like crime rates or any sort of attacks would be extremely low. So, yeah, I think I was just surprised.” In response to the warning, Hicks said she changed her routine to stay safe. “Beforehand,” Hicks continued, “I would even, like, walk around school later in the day, or I’ve walked from town center to the dorms, vice versa. I didn’t walk too much at night, but I was more willing to, and then now I wasn’t as willing to.”
Joanna Michel; senior liberal arts major, student employee at Associated Students Inc. and residential assistant; expressed similar concern. “Since I am very present on campus as an RA and a student worker here for ASI,” Michel said. “I was worried about my residents, and also one of my closest friends, since I knew that she works in that area.”
Madelaine Brown, senior studio arts major and media editor for The CI View, happened to be working on a theater production in Malibu Hall around the time that the incident was said to have taken place. “Hearing about the robbery the day after was a little unnerving,” Brown said, “that potentially either any of the people who auditioned or me in that area who were walking alone back to their cars or back to their dorms, it was a little alarming that that was just an easily accessible area, especially when so many people were walking alone.”
Two days after the initial warning was sent out, the campus community received a follow-up email that contradicted the first one. The follow-up email stated, “After a thorough investigation, law enforcement has determined that the reported incident did not occur. At this time there is no threat to the campus community related to this report.” This update left the campus community confused as to what did or did not occur and why the initial warning was issued in the first place, but no further information or explanation was given.
Chief of University Police, Drake Massey, was kind enough to speak with The CI View to provide some additional context about the situation with the caveat that some aspects of the incident may run into privacy law concerns.
According to Massey, campus police officers were first made aware of a possible theft and assault on Chapel Drive near Malibu Hall at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, the night before the warning was sent. Officers responded, made contact with the reporting party, and gathered the initial information.
“The initial information,” Massey said, “was such that there was an assault of one of our students. And as a result of that assault, some property was taken from that student.”
University police officers knew that further investigation into the incident was needed and decided against issuing a timely warning that night. However, when Massey was made aware the following morning, he felt that the initial report indicated that this was a serious enough crime that a warning should go out to the campus community before a full investigation was completed.
The investigation that followed included a search for witnesses or other people with additional information, a review of closed-circuit TV camera footage, a search of the area in daylight for any physical evidence that may have been left behind, and a follow-up with the reporting party.
“There was enough evidence with the follow-up investigation,” Massey said, ”to suggest that this either didn’t happen or it didn’t happen here.” In light of the results of their investigation, University police determined that it was necessary to send out a follow-up email to let the campus community know that the reported incident did not occur.
When asked if this was all based on a misunderstanding or a false police report, Massey answered, “Well, we don’t know.” This is the point where Massey said he had to be “a little bit guarded” to comply with privacy laws. However, Massey was able to say that University police could not determine if this was a case of confusion, misunderstanding or false reporting.
No one else has come forward with any additional information, and University police are not moving forward with any criminal charges related to the incident. “If further leads come forward,” Massey said, “we’ll certainly open those leads up and investigate those.” However, at this point in time, the case is closed.
