After one of their own was robbed at gunpoint at an off-campus apartment last summer, the LSU Student Government is launching a new program to certify multiunit rental properties that commit to beefing up security measures to abate crime and protect their student residents.
LSU SG, in conjunction with East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s office and the LSU Police Department, will roll out the LSU Gold Standard Student Housing program in the fall.
Off-campus apartment properties can opt into the voluntary program via an online portal where they will submit the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design survey. The properties must have a favorable CPTED survey, per standards established by LSUPD, to receive a gold standard designation.
LSU SG President Zachary Faircloth says the organization is hoping to certify properties in time for the January 2018 leasing cycle.
“We want to let (the properties) know that this isn’t law enforcement declaring war and that this is students feeling strongly about this,” Faircloth says.
After the robbery, LSU SG reviewed crime data available through Open Data BR and found students at nearby off-campus apartments frequently reported robberies or were targets for crime. LSU SG says 1,411 reports were made to the Baton Rouge Police Department during the period from January 2015 to June 2016 at popular off-campus housing units. The reports were mostly for thefts, residential and vehicle burglaries.
“No one was talking about it,” Faircloth says, adding that LSU SG sat down with local law enforcement and the DA’s office last year to discuss crime at off-campus apartments and to pitch its idea.
The East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office Crime Strategies Unit will handle the data-driven component of the program. Will Morris, an assistant district attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish, says the unit will analyze the crime data to give the properties suggestions about how to beef up supervision and reduce crime.
Morris says a citywide analysis prior to the LSU SG meeting last year showed that student housing complexes around the university had a high number of police service calls, mostly for nonviolent incidents such as disorderly conduct, car burglaries, fights and 911 hang-ups.
But he notes that local law enforcement officers can spend time and resources to address violent crime in other areas of the city if off-campus apartments can make their properties more secure.
Morris and Jim Steele, an investigator with the DA’s office, formed the unit in 2015 as a way for the DA’s office to be more proactive with crime prevention.
The gold designation, Steele says, can help give parents a sense of comfort that their children are living in areas that LSU and law enforcement have certified.
Faircloth says he hopes to promote the program to parents at orientation.
Certified off-campus housing units will receive decals, signage and the official website designation to promote their status.
—Alexandria Burris
