OVERGROWN lots in close proximity to the University of West Indies Cave Hill Campus can be safe havens for persons who want to engage in criminal activity.
And Oral Reid, director of security services at Cave Hill, is appealing to those owners to debush their property to eliminate the risk of robbery and assault on students who have to traverse those areas en route to classes.
His appeal is coming on the heels of a report that Barbadian student Tishani Springer was robbed of personal belongings as she made her way to classes yesterday afternoon.
“We were?notified of it [the incident] and we responded to give the student some level of reassurance until the police arrived,” Reid told the DAILY NATION hours after the report.
He also said the last similar incident involving a student was in April 2013, but he would not want to make any “generalisations based on the first of this type” that happened this year.
“Having visited the area where the student was walking, the university tries to alert our students to the possibility of these things happening.”
Reid, a former police public relations officer, said the campus was however encouraged by the level of response from the police.
“But we also realise there is a certain level of debushing in the area which in some instances the university has undertaken the responsibility to do some . . . in the area which the students must traverse to reach the campus, but there are some persons who are owners of the plots [which are not cleaned] and that creates a safe haven for persons who are inclined towards that kind of activity.”
It was reported that the student was coming from home along a track that leads into the Pleasant View entrance to the campus.
He said the matter had been referred to officers of District “A” Police Station.
Police confirmed they were investigating the incident.
(JS)
