A police officer walks toward the line of cars outside the East Lansing Police Department. Shot on Sept. 10, 2020.
Over the course of the 2023 fall semester, there were three cases of robbery on MSU’s campus and 202 cases of larceny–theft without force. In the city of East Lansing, there were 10 cases of robbery, 186 cases of larceny and 43 cases of vehicle theft, according to city crime logs.
Two of the three robberies on MSU’s campus are considered “strong arm robberies” — robberies involving a weapon or threat of force. Seven out of ten of the East Lansing cases were considered strong arm.
Theft can happen when you least expect it, which is why ELPD Lieutenant Adrian Ojerio recommends always thinking proactively.
“What we find is that most of the time, these are crimes of opportunity, meaning if a perpetrator or a bad guy has the opportunity to do it without causing much disturbance, then they’re going to take it,” he said. "[Examples being] an unlocked car door, unlocked house door, open windows, even packages sitting on the front porch that are visible from the street.”
Ojerio said that taking preventative measures helps to limit the opportunity for people looking to commit these types of crimes.
Nursing junior Ariana Renedo was going for a walk near her off-campus home last spring when someone stole her phone.
She said she was approached by a male and female who looked like college students in a black car. The female rolled down the window and asked if she could borrow Renedo’s phone to call the male’s mom as both of their phones did not have charged batteries.
Renedo said she was skeptical at first but felt more comfortable when the female offered to step out of the vehicle.
She handed her the phone only for the female to go straight back into the car and drive away.
“I literally sprinted home. My phone was open and everything, she could have gotten all my information but luckily nothing got taken, she was probably just selling it,” Renedo said.
Renedo instantly went on the FindMyiPhone app to track the device, only to find that it was in what appeared to be a T-Mobile store in Lansing, she said.
She said that she called the police and was told there was nothing they could do to pinpoint who stole her phone.
Renedo said that following the incident she is a lot more cautious of her surroundings and is less trustworthy of strangers.
Mechanical engineering sophomore Jagger Edson was approached last winter by what appeared to be an armed man while he was biking to the gym.
Edson said he was behind the MSU Chemistry Building when a man in a hoodie started walking towards him with his hand in his pocket, holding what appeared to him to be a weapon. He said the man then tried to block his way and run him off the sidewalk but Edson was able to bike around him and get away.
He reported the incident to the police and later on found out that he was the third person that winter to have had an encounter of that nature in the same location.
“It definitely shows you that there are people out there that are dangerous,” Edson said.
Ojerio said that it is most common for armed robberies to occur in secluded areas that aren’t well-lit to limit their exposure to witnesses and getting caught by law enforcement. He said that when someone finds themselves in the situation of a robbery, it is best to fully comply with the perpetrator.
“There’s nothing in this world that can’t be replaced, that’s you know, monetary,” he said. “You should give them what they want and if the opportunity presents itself to escape, that person should escape. There is no point in fighting and trying to escalate the situation if it’s only about property.”
When it comes to reporting a robbery, Ojerio says to do so as soon as possible.
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He said that when responding to an immediate call, ELPD will try to get to the scene fast enough to set up a perimeter to keep the suspect from getting away. For later calls, he says the department has to take an investigatory stance by looking into if there are cameras nearby that may have caught video footage of the incident or seeing if there is a way to track the stolen items.
MSU Police and Public Safety Spokesperson Dana Whyte encourages the same approach while also searching for a safe location after the incident and utilizing the emergency green light phones on campus to contact 911.
When it comes to responding to armed robberies on-campus, Whyte said that MSUPD uses trauma-informed practices to understand the situation.
“Ultimately the safety of the victim is most important. So we want to make sure that they’re okay and once the situation is under control we would ask them what happened and communicate with them,” Whyte said.
She said once the victim is able to explain what happened, the detective bureau within the police department will then investigate the situation.
Out of the 10 reported robberies in East Lansing, only three arrests were made. Ojerio said that this is due to a variety of factors, such as experienced criminals scoping out targets in secluded areas to hinder the police’s investigatory ability and the trauma caused by experiencing a robbery impacting what a witness perceives.
“We have to investigate what we know and if we don’t know all the facts, we can’t go ahead and charge people, so that creates a hurdle sometimes,” he said.
Whyte said that a critical part of keeping others safe is following the motto of “if you see something, say something.”
“If you see anything suspicious, always reach out to the department so that we’re able to investigate it,” she said.
For public safety resources you can visit the MSUPD website or the ELPD website.
