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Exeter bar theft renews College’s theft concerns

Exeter’s
security came under scrutiny last Friday after its JCR bar was van­dalised by
an intruder. The
culprit gained access to the bar during the day as it was left open for
students to use its facilities. He subse­quently vandalised the bar by break­ing
into the pool table and jukebox with what is believed to have been a crowbar. The
matter was discovered by the assistant domestic bursar and re­ported to Thames
Valley Police, who sent officers to Exeter
on Saturday to examine the scene of the crime. A spokesperson from Thames
Valley Po­lice confirmed the incident on Friday as “a break-in through an
unsecured door; cash was stolen from the juke­box and the pool table”. Eric
Bennett, Exeter’s
domestic bursar, said: “Around fifty pounds were stolen. The College has to pay
for that. The same goes with dam­age to the machines, which might be something
like a couple of hundred quid.” A
porter at Exeter
informed Cher­well that a similar incident happened in third week. On
that occasion, four machines in the lounge area were bro­ken into. In both
cases, the perpetrator was caught on the College’s CCTV. From video footage, it
appears that the intruder could have been the same person. The Police
spokesperson describes him as “a white man, around 30, 5’10” with balding
ginger hair.”The
break-ins have raised questions about security, although James Rob­inson, Exeter’s bar officer,
said: “The worry is not massive. The bar break-ins were isolated cases in the
sense that one man spotted a loophole in security and exploited it. And so far,
there hasn’t been any incident where student rooms were broken into.” The
porter said: “We try our hardest to keep an eye on who goes in and out of the
College but the large number of visitors from outside… and the fact that they
do not need to report to the Porters’ Lodge make that task diffi­cult.” Bennett
said: “We have planned long before the incident to set up a barrier by the
entrance so that all visi­tors have to walk through the Lodge. But that means
having to open up a door in the wall and because is Grade I listed, the plan
was refused permission by the City Council.” Emily
Pull, Exeter JCR President, said: “I think it’s awful that the City Council is
obstructing attempts to im­prove student safety.” Bennett added: “Our newest
plan is to set up a swipe card system so that only members of the College can
get in; others have to report to the Lodge. But it’s question­able whether even
that would have prevented cases like this from happen­ing. The person whom we
think was the thief looked ordinary and not at all scruffy and if he says he’s
a tourist most people would believe him. From the CCTV footage I actually
thought at first that he was an academic! “People
like him know the system well – they know what to say when they are questioned,
how not to at­tract unwanted attention and so on. So one can see that even with
check­ing non-members by the entrance is not going to be 100 per cent secure.”Exeter students have been
informed by the College since the incident that the bar will be shut during the
day and any College member who wishes to use it will have to collect the key
from the porters’ lodge.ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

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