Safety Saturdays: Barnard, Boundary Updates
Welcome to “Safety Saturdays,” a weekly segment that covers all things safety related at SCAD Savannah.
Monday, April 11 an unidentified male entered a residence dorm room through the window. The incident occurred at Boundary Village, just a few days after an unidentified male entered a residence in Barnard Village.
“In Barnard Village and again in Boundary village this morning individuals breached our fence – they didn’t come through an access control point, they didn’t go through the guard shack, it didn’t appear that they went through a pedestrian gate,” said Executive Director of Campus Safety and Security, John Buckovich.
“In both cases they went up, over our fence,” he added.
In the initial notice that was sent out Wednesday morning, there was no mention of the suspect exposing himself or anything being stolen from the residence hall.
“At that point, we didn’t know that anything was stolen. Nothing was reported stolen. They didn’t realize that they had items taken until later that day. So when the notice went out we didn’t know anything was stolen,” said Buckovich.
“We didn’t put all the details in there because I want to protect the victim. I don’t want the victim to be subject to any kind of embarrassment. So we put the information out that we felt was applicable for students. That somebody walked into a dorm room, on our property. Make sure your windows and doors were locked,” he added.
“None of the students involved were sexually assaulted in the incidents. However, the suspect at Barnard did expose himself to a student in the apartment,” Buckovich noted.
For the incident at Barnard Village, the police assigned a detective to the case, who was able to identify the suspect. The suspect has not been arrested yet, but there are warrants on file.
“Immediately on Barnard Village, we put an officer. We up staffed Barnard Village; we put an officer walking the complex and an officer driving around that area,” said Buckovich in regards to the actions SCAD has taken in ensuring students safety.
As well as an increase in officers, Buckovich pointed out that there will be an officer walking the properties from nine at night to seven in the morning and that these officers will be surveying the fence lines and breezeways.
“Each officer will have this big spotlight that they’ll use to light up the darker areas that we can’t see.”
As for open windows and doors, the officers have been instructed to make students aware of such. If officers notice that a student has left a door or window open, they have been instructed to contact the student and make sure they close and lock them.
Buckovich stated that he has also asked for additional police patrols from the Savannah Police Department and that he’s reached out to the command of the department.
“I was really pleased with the police department, with the detectives response on Wednesday that they were able to identify the suspect,” he said, referring to the incident that occurred at Barnard Village.
“I’m happy that they assigned a detective sergeant to this today,” he added, referring to the incident that occurred in Boundary Village.
“It says to me that the investigative part of the police department is taking it seriously and that they’re helping us to catch the people.”
Buckovich’s main concern was ensuring that the students feel safe and protected.
“If they’re seeing a greater presence of police cars riding around if the police officers, when they’re doing their routine patrol, are also lighting up our fence lines with their spotlights and their vehicles that just helps people feel better,” said Buckovich.
Check in every Saturday for an update on all things safety related. For more information on SCAD Safety & Security, contact John Buckovich at jbuckovi@scad.edu.
Asli Shebe is a senior writing major from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She began working for District in 2014 as a staff writer, then copy editor, A&E editor, Chief Assignment editor and finally, Editor-in-Chief in 2017. Asli currently holds the record for obtaining the most job titles during her time at District. When she’s not writing for District you can find her biking around the Historic District of Savannah at odd hours of the day.
