What University of Southern Maine’s Parking and Transportation Department Believes Can Halt These Thefts From Happening
By: Chris Tiner, News Editor
In the swing of the new year, a similar problem has occurred to an issue reported on back in late October of 2023 when the public safety department for University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus sent out a timely notice reporting that bikes had been stolen from in front of Portland Commons, and McGoldrick Center. This time around, there have been multiple reported thefts in unlocked cars on the ground floor of the new parking garage for Portland Commons residents, and faculty.
On January 22nd, 2024, a timely notice was issued to residents of Portland Commons, as well as posted on the front doors of McGoldrick Center on the USM Portland campus. The timely notice was in place to inform residents that twice since January 13th unlocked cars on the ground floor of the new parking garage for Portland Commons residential students and faculty, have been broken into and small items were being taken. Items such as wallets, charging cords, car registrations, etc. are all small, easy to grab items that are being targeted by the perpetrator of these thefts. Public safety believes the perpetrator of these thefts to be an unhoused individual with a bike. Security camera footage shows this individual riding around the garage during the reported dates, and times of the incidents.
Toward the bottom of the notice, USM Department of Public Safety offers some safety tips recommended for all students to follow. Try to always find a friend to accompany you at night, if being followed go directly to a populated place, use USM’s police escort service if you feel unsafe, and never enter a vehicle with someone you do not know. It is emphasized that if you see something, you should say something, reporting any suspicious person, or vehicle immediately to the police. These tips are in place to protect students on campus, and help continue to make our three campuses safe, and secure places.
These timely notices are very useful, and important to everyone on campus, and we thank USM Public Safety for posting these everywhere to keep us updated with things that are actively happening on our campuses. The thefts that have been occurring are targeting unlocked cars, so it is important that you keep your car locked anytime you are leaving it parked in the garage unattended because anything could happen, and it is a good safety precaution in general to take when living in a larger city in Maine, like Portland.
The city of Portland, Maine is highly considered one of the safest cities in the United States. It placed seventh among the best, and safest places to live in the United States according to the US News & World Report. However, just like many other cities, Portland is no stranger to crime. According to areavibes.com, Portland has a total of 3.49 daily crimes, which over 99% of are property crimes. This however is 20% lower than the national average per 100,000 residents, and property crime has been decreasing by 4.3% in Portland year over year.
I spoke with Trystan Henry, the manager of Parking and Transportation at University of Southern Maine about the issue, and discussed solutions to the vehicle break-ins that occurred to prevent it from happening any more. Henry was able to provide me with a couple of different ideas that the parking committee and safety advisory committee will be reviewing. These are, adding a message system that will always send safety alerts in the HONK app, the app that is now used for parking permits at University of Southern Maine where residents, staff, and faculty control their parking. Adding automatic security door openers that can be set on timers to close at 11pm and open at 4am for example to ensure only the people who have the right to access the garage are the ones going in there at night with cameras that would only allow permit holders to enter. Increasing patrol, and or real time monitoring via cameras from a command center. Pedestrian accessible kiosks that could be added to the doors of the stairways in the garage that are set to lock at 11pm to 4am for example, so only residents will be given access with their USM ID card to enter the garage in between those hours.
If you, or anyone you know has any information about the car theft break-ins that have occurred in the new Portland commons parking garage, please reach out to USM Public safety, and as always say something if you see something suspicious. We can all contribute to helping keep our campuses safe!
The full timely notice is posted below.