Students have been left questioning the effectiveness of security at Fairfield University after 22 student residences were burglarized in the past semester, resulting in thousands of dollars of stolen property.
Despite the arrest of Richard Rosario, who is charged with one count of burglary, one count of attempted burglary and is allegedy connected to twelve other townhouse and ten beach house burglaries, some students are still wary.
“It’s really scary to picture some cracked out guy prowling the townhouses,” said townhouse resident Kristen Vissichelli ’06. “What if someone approached him and pissed him off?
“I walk from my friends’ townhouses to my own alone at night; it’s definitely intimidating to think about someone like that successfully getting onto campus at night,” she said.
Initially, students were informed that the burglar was most likely a student, according to announcements posted on campus, which also troubled many students.
Director of Public Safety Todd Pelazza declined to comment on the concerns of students following the burglaries and the arrest of the suspect.
Yet not all public officials responded in the same way.
Fairfield Police Detective Sergeant Gene Palazzolo said that after the rash of recent burglaries, surveillance was set up around campus.
“On March 9 one of our detectives observed a security officer on foot pursuit,” said Palazzolo. “We coordinated into a very large and long search, 12 police units, along with assistants from Westport Police Department and a tracking dog.”
“The search lasted an hour and a half and ended at his home on Hunter Road, half a mile from the Jogues entrance,” he added.
Palazzolo confirmed that narcotic paraphernalia was obtained by police in Rosario’s backpack and jacket.
“He was already on our list of potential suspects, we were already familiar with him,” Palazzolo added.
Jack Fernandez, assistant director of Public Safety at Sacred Heart University, offered some tips to students.
“Laptop or any thefts are usually a crime of opportunity. Don’t make it easy for someone to steal your property,” he said. “It’s important to remember to secure doors and windows at all times.”
Fairfield student and beach resident Steve Shea ’06 empathizes with his burglarized classmates.
“I feel terrible for the townhouses because I feel like living off-campus we get more protection then they do,” he said. “The campus has their own Public Safety department, so they shouldn’t have to worry about burglaries and trespassing.”
But Katie Doherty ’05, a townhouse manager whose townhouse was burglarized, disagreed.
“I know that Public Safety patrolled more, worked extra hard over Spring Break, and went the extra mile to ensure safety and find the burglar,” she said. “They should be commended for all the hard work they did.”
Students are again reminded to always lock their doors.
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