Concerns over safety of UL accommodation

dee8839

Anyone else worried about safety in College Court of late?

I am away from uni for almost a year on work placement, but all I hear from people still there are stories of broken car windows, beatings, cars being keyed, tires slashed, robberies even while tenants are in the house.... and the SU claim they can do nothing to help. Is it not a good idea to try to get extra security for this estate, given that it is obviously justified.

My boyfriend, a male neighbour, and I were attacked last semester while walking in this estate one evening, and the neighbour was quite badly beaten. The reason? Who knows. I just want to be safe in my home in college, and I feel that just because this estate is not campus owned doesn't mean the university shouldn't be concerned with keeping it safe. It is, I would estimate, 80-90% student occupied after all. Any thoughts?

rmacm

UL aren't in the business of law enforcement, and there isn't really anything that they can do about what happens in College Court. Everyone wants to feel safe in their homes and if you don't feel safe living there then don't, move to another estate. Just remember living somewhere like Dromroe isn't neccessarily safer than anywhere else you could just as easily have been attacked there as in College Court.

Castletroy could do with a Garda station perhaps you should try and find out why there isn't one when clearly there is a need for one.

dee8839

I'm not expecting law enforcement, I realise that's unreasonable. But even just the knowledge that someone is patrolling once or twice a day might be some small form of deterrent for would-be criminals. The majority of robberies seem to take place in broad daylight. I totally agree about the lack of a garda station, it doesn't make sense. But as for your suggestion that a simple move to another estate will solve it, thats just unfortunately not the case. Elm Park is purely unsafe, for one example. I was just mentioning College Court as this was my home for 2 years without (major) incident. A lot of people can't afford campus accommodation, where at least there is an office and a gated community (whether secure or not), myself included, and while it isn't fair to expect the university to do the job of the gardai, I do think they could at least address the problem rather than sweep it under the carpet. Even a letter to the council might be of some benefit, but when this was suggested to the college in writing, they simply suggested contact details for on-campus accommodation.

1huge1

Well one thing UL isn't short of is accomodation so you have a lot of choice but its terrible all the same.

There really should be a garda station in castletroy though, theres like 25,000 people living there.

rmacm

dee8839 wrote: »

I'm not expecting law enforcement, I realise that's unreasonable. But even just the knowledge that someone is patrolling once or twice a day might be some small form of deterrent for would-be criminals.

I doubt it somehow, Campus security would have no power to do anything, the only thing they could do if they saw something happening would be to contact the Gardai. You'll still be waiting for a car to come from Henry Street or Roxboro. I lived there for 2 years myself and the Guards drove around the estate quite a bit yet it didn't deter some people from breaking into houses so I doubt campus security driving around would do any good.

dee8839 wrote: »

The majority of robberies seem to take place in broad daylight. I totally agree about the lack of a garda station, it doesn't make sense. But as for your suggestion that a simple move to another estate will solve it, thats just unfortunately not the case. Elm Park is purely unsafe, for one example. I was just mentioning College Court as this was my home for 2 years without (major) incident. A lot of people can't afford campus accommodation, where at least there is an office and a gated community (whether secure or not), myself included, and while it isn't fair to expect the university to do the job of the gardai, I do think they could at least address the problem rather than sweep it under the carpet. Even a letter to the council might be of some benefit, but when this was suggested to the college in writing, they simply suggested contact details for on-campus accommodation.

Hmmm I wasn't suggesting that moving estates would solve the problem but I suppose it did come across like that, the point I was trying to make is that if you don't feel safe somewhere then there isn't much point in staying. I've never lived in Elm Park but I've walked through it plenty of times with zero trouble (I must be lucky). UL do provide Night Link buses to get people home safely that go to most of the estates around the college so they do make some manner of effort to protect students. Unfortunately that's about all they can do aside from putting pressure on politicians to get the finger out and perhaps do something about the issue.

UL can't just go and send a private security company to patrol a private housing estate and I'd be willing to bet my first born that even if campus security could patrol the estates none of their staff are going to tackle a burglar or take action that could result in danger to themselves. I'd suggest talking to the SU again and see if there are other avenues for highlighting this problem.