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Walking onto DePaul University’s Lincoln Park campus for the first time has most often created a sense of safety and protection due to the location of the school. With the picture perfect Quad, where people engage in all kinds of activities, and campus housing entrances supervised 24 hours, students tend to forget that they are still in the city of Chicago.
This is not to say that the DePaul campus is not safe; however, students need to be reminded that just because they are in an area that doesn’t have crime rates as notoriously high as neighborhoods such as Auburn Gresham or North Lawndale, this doesn’t mean that they should let down their guard.
“Coming into my third year at DePaul, I’ve learned that this campus is as safe or as dangerous as you choose to make it,” Charlie Wynne said, an English major and former resident of Corcoran Hall.
Just last year in 2012, the city of Chicago’s data portal recorded that more than 200 incidents of crime were reported to police within the Lincoln Park community. The crimes committed in the area ranged from theft, burglary and robbery to battery. Most infamously last year, there was a spate of hair salon robberies and a night that involved muggings of multiple DePaul students outside of parties.
However, Lincoln Park has statistically remained one of the safest neighborhoods in Chicago year after year; according to the Chicago Tribune, only 16 violent crimes occurred in Lincoln Park this August.
“I think the students need to take it upon themselves to ensure their safety,” Wynne said.
Simple precautionary measures can be taken by the many students at DePaul that are located in and around campus to safeguard themselves from crime and other unfortunate incidents. Too often individuals get caught up at parties or other events, lose track of time, and end up walking back to their dorms or apartments alone, which makes them extremely vulnerable to criminals.
In addition to students being more aware of their surroundings and living arrangements, they must also take advantage of the services that the DePaul staff has provided through the Public Safety department. Many times it appears students forget that Public Safety does offer escorting anywhere on campus between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day.
At the end of the day, the Lincoln Park neighborhood surrounding DePaul’s campus has established itself as a safe community, but students cannot let it slip their mind that crime is a real problem that could happen anywhere at any time.
“I’ve always felt secure at DePaul, but that hasn’t kept me from taking the right steps to stay safe,” Wynne said.
