In the past two months, Cedar Village and the area surrounding it have become home to two of MSU’s largest crime-related incidents within the past school year.
The way East Lansing police has responded to retrieving tips on suspects for the two crimes has differed, and some members of the community have actively voiced their displeasure for the process.
Following the Big Ten championship football game on Dec. 7, students took to the streets of Cedar Village, starting fires in the streets and causing what officials and police have called a civil disturbance.
By the end of the night and in the days following, 27 people had been arrested, many of which were students. Police set up a reward fund for tips involving the civil disturbance of $10,000, a total that was matched by MSU.
On Jan. 31, two students were shot inside an apartment complex on the 200 block of Cedar Street. One student, hospitality business sophomore Dominique Nolff, died from complications of the shooting the next morning. Many aspects of the shooting stunned the MSU community, but one side of the story garnered particular attention. After the shooting no reward fund was set up for tips leading to Nolff’s killer.
Students took to social media, and one student, communication sophomore Ryan Bourdeaux, wrote a letter to the editor of The State News voicing his displeasure at the lack of a reward fund for tips leading to the arrest of Nolff’s shooter.
East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy said police received an outpouring of tips regarding the shooting, making it unnecessary to take such measures.
“There are not many things more serious than killing someone,” he said. “People have been phoning in tips because they feel it is right thing to do.”
Murphy said information is harder to come by in the case of civil disturbances.
“We’ve been dealing with civil disturbances as long as I’ve been here, and we’ve always done this (offer reward money),” he said. “People don’t become involved in giving information unless there is some sort of motivation.”
The fact that most of the cases are misdemeanors in civil disturbances and a lot of the information could implicate someone being at the scene of the disturbance were also reasons Murphy gave for needing monetary motivation.
For Bourdeaux, the response by East Lansing police provides context to the decision, but the explanation still wasn’t good enough.
“The fact that police have only used ($2,000) of the $20,000, to me doesn’t make the reward viable or effective,” he said. “No one is going to tell on anyone because you offer a reward, it depends on the situation.”
To Bourdeaux, the situation was the most important factor in which case should have a reward fund set up for tips.
“I feel as if putting out a reward for Dominique’s murderer would be more proper than the riot case,” he said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
