Another Stairwell Crime Reported At Stockton's Delta College
STOCKTON (CBS13) - Robberies and sexual assaults, at least five violent crimes in five months, are happening in stairwells at Delta College.
No one was hurt in the latest altercation Monday, where a man was robbed, but these stairwells are turning into a haven for crime on the Stockton campus.
Police say the suspects got away in the latest incident by running up to the third or fourth floor.
"The way Stockton is these days, you can't go to school without people acting up," student Adrian Bowen.
It's higher education lowered to criminal conduct.
"Coming on campus, you'd think it'd be a safe environment," one student said.
Posted crime alerts from back in April are still up at the college warning of sexual assaults against women in stairwells
On this day, a man going to class was robbed of cash inside a stairwell. In total there have been five stairwell crimes in five months.
"Well, gonna stay away from the stairways then," one female student said Monday. "You won't catch me there."
"You can't be everywhere at once," another student said. "Bad things happen."
Police say they have considered installing surveillance cameras in the stairwells, but an estimated $1 million price tag is too expensive for the cash-strapped campus.
Delta stairwells are enclosed by fire doors, turning students into trapped targets.
"It's a pretty vulnerable place being in a stairwell," a student said.
It's a Delta College dilemma, and criminals have discovered it.
"Just look over my shoulder, just always look over my shoulder," Bowen said.
So without enough money to pay for surveillance cameras, police are also looking into installing safety mirrors for better visibility.
For now the immediate plan is increase police presence in the stairwells.
Campus police released suspect descriptions from Monday's robbery. They do not match the descriptions of suspects in the earlier assaults.
