By CONNOR RYAN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The message of Fordham Security these days is clear and simple: Enough is enough.
In an effort to curb the increasing rate of “apple picking” — iPhone theft — the university community has faced since the start of the academic year, the head of Fordham’s security office has called in a favor.
Fifty officers from each of the New York Police Department’s 12 precincts in the Bronx will be stationed “on every [street] corner” around Rose Hill’s campus for the next two weeks, said John Carroll, associate vice president for safety and security.
“He’s given me every asset that he has out there for a few weeks just to make sure our kids are safe,” Carroll said of the NYPD’s borough commander in the Bronx — a personal friend of his. “He’s thrown the entire borough of the Bronx to protecting Fordham students.”
Carroll says that in his over 20-year history at Fordham, he has always been able to get resources from the NYPD, but, “this is the first time I got the entire borough.”
The NYPD officers will be on patrol only at night from East Fordham Road to 187th St., and Bathgate Ave. to Hughes Ave, Carroll said. The measure will be in effect for two weeks at which point Carroll says he will purchase a new security car and hire two additional security guards to exclusively monitor Rose Hill’s surrounding area from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. every night of the week.
Speaking of the deployed NYPD fleet, Carroll said: “It’s not something that I can keep, but we can get it. We’re going to use it until I can get that car in place.”
Fifteen security alert e-mails were sent to students last month — many of them related to iPhone thefts, according to a report from the Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and Student Support. Fifty-one students were examined by on-campus medical technicians for intoxication treatment last month — 34 of them were transported to a local hospital.
