The Syracuse Police Department and Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety briefed the media Sunday afternoon about the two robberies and robbery attempt that happened during the weekend.

The briefing occurred at 2:40 p.m. at the Department of Public Safety offices in Sims Hall. Chief Tony Callisto of DPS and Sgt. Tom Connellan of SPD represented their respective departments.

On Saturday night, four suspects in Oakwood Cemetery robbed two SU College of Law students at gunpoint. Several hours later on Sunday morning, an attempted robbery of a student took place on the 700 block of Ostrom Avenue. Shortly after at 3:45, a student was robbed in the parking lot of 703 Walnut Ave.

“In many cases, these are preventable crimes,” Callisto said.

“I’ve been here for seven years, and I haven’t seen one robbery incident that involved three students or more walking together,” he later added.

Connellan said SPD believes the robbery in Oakwood Cemetery is unrelated from the two others. Though there are some leads in the case, no arrests have been made, he said.

There is no indication the robberies are related to recent gang activity at all, Connellan said. But he said SPD still doesn’t know who the suspects are. SPD is also working with DPS to check all the cameras in the area.

Another step an individual can take when being robbed, he said, is for them to do exactly as they’re told. The best thing a victim could do is to be a good witness by providing a detailed description of any suspects, Connellan said.

“We don’t advise anyone to fight back, especially if there’s someone who has a weapon,” he said.

Walking through unlit areas like Oakwood Cemetery should also be avoided, especially because it is known they’re used for shortcuts, he said.

Callisto said the uptick in crime is consistent with last fall, and suspects are attracted to the area because there’s a lot of pedestrian activity at night.

DPS, SPD, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department and the Onondaga County Department of Probation will continue their “significantly increased” patrols, he said.

But Connellan added that a lot of the police activity in the area is preventative.

“We saw a pattern of stuff that we didn’t like developing—some people coming up here that we thought could cause a problem,” he said. “We decided to jump on that to be proactive and preventive in trying to stop that before something really bad happened.”

Callisto said there are several services students can take advantage of if they feel unsafe.

The regular Centro buses run until 3 a.m., Callisto said, while other shuttles provided by Caz Limo & Tours continue all night long from Main Campus to South Campus. He said the safety shuttle escort service provided by DPS also continues until the buses resume service at 6:30 a.m.

Said Callisto: “There’s always the availability of some assistance, and people just have to think to call us,” he said.

Published on October 7, 2012 at 4:20 pm

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum