The week of Nov. 1 was hectic for me. Between the depressing election, the attempt to get back in the swing of things after fall break, and that period of re-acclimating to caf food, getting something stolen wasn’t any way to spend a good Saturday night. I’ll admit, it WAS my fault, leaving my Xbox in the lounge for an hour, but shouldn’t we live on a campus where stealing isn’t a factor of life?

Now, I know this will sound like a diatribe on how Public Safety doesn’t do its job, and I know they can’t prevent everything, but what the hell do they do? They’re supposed to ensure that we live in a safe environment.

Yet my Xbox wasn’t the only thing stolen the weekend before the elections.

Another student had his laptop stolen the same night. He called the Greensboro Police, but since we are a private campus, they couldn’t search any rooms. We don’t have any cameras on campus for the same reason.

Although the idea of cameras watching our every move brings up the notion of Big Brother, I’d rather find the bastard that stole my Xbox, even if it meant I had to sacrifice a little liberty.

After I tried to find my Xbox with a friend’s help, I went to fill out a statement for Public Safety. No one there thought it prudent to ask me anything about what happened. In fact, I still haven’t been asked to provide them with any additional information, which suggests to me that they aren’t even looking for my stolen property.

I’ve heard that they’re “keeping an eye out for it,” also known as waiting for it to fall into their lap. This is unacceptable. Even the police, who have to deal with homicides and other major crimes find the time to make a small investigation into theft, or at least make it appear that they’re trying.

Aside from being upset at my recent theft, I’m upset with Public Safety for other things. A friend told me recently that he had lost his mug, and after a few weeks went to Public Safety to see if it had turned up. It had, in fact, turned up, and Public Safety officers were using it to hold their coffee instead of even attempting to locate the owner. Their defense? It had been there for awhile, so they just used it.

Another friend told me today, “I just read in the Buzz that Public Safety has a bunch of smartcards (the student ID cards), and that if you are missing yours you should go down to see if they have it. Why don’t they tell people when they have their cards, or even return them to people? Why not the little bit of extra effort?”

I second that.

Sure, it would mean they’d have to go to Lotus Notes to fine each person’s number, but calling to let people know their IDs have been found is not a lot of work. Especially considering our ID cards are what let us into the caf.

Another gripe I have with Public Safety is the fact that almost nightly, I have to close the outer doors of Binford that have been left propped open. I’ve been spoken to by Public Safety many times for leaving the doors open, even though I didn’t prop them open in the first place.

This is understandable, since an open door means anyone from the street can walk in and steal something (like my Xbox). Yet why do I have to continually close them?

I don’t have a clue what Public Safety actually does, and I’d love to find out, since all I see them do is drive around in their golf carts. This isn’t just a complaint about Public Safety; it’s an attempt to make things better for people.

Public Safety should be a little more open as to what they do. The general populace shouldn’t have to research what they do, it should be announced. Additionally, Public Safety should at least make an attempt to find stolen items and make a better attempt at returning lost or stolen items to owners.

Of course, some things are hard to identify as belonging to a specific person, but ID cards do not fall into this category.