Spring Break
North Campus: 'The Jungle' finally gets tamed
Matthew Monks
Issue date: 12/4/01 Section: News
J.B. Rochette likes to reminisce about the good old days in the Jungle. Two years ago, when the fifth-semester natural resources major was a freshman living in the North campus dorms, the place was wild: he could drink with his door open and the floor parties would last all night. North is called the Jungle for a reason, he said.
"Anyone who lives in the dorms and wants to party -- they lived here," Rochette said.
Then, in January 2000, UConn Police and the Department of Residential Life assigned a community police officer to deal specifically with North and Northwest dorms, and things started to change. Resident assistants got stricter and the floor parties got broken up more quickly, he said. Anyone underage who wanted to drink had to do it with his or her door closed.
More crimes were committed and arrests made at North campus over a two-year period than at any other dorm on campus, a review of a computerized police log obtained from the UConn Police Department shows.
North, located across from the Life Sciences building on North Eagleville Road, is the largest dorm complex, with eleven buildings housing 1,347 students.
From June 1999 to the end of May 2001, a total of 210 incidents or arrests occurred at North, 98 more than the 112 at Towers, the dorm with the second highest number of reported crimes. North accounted for roughly 25 percent of crimes in campus residences, the logs show, yet it has just 13 percent the residential students.
According to Rochette, the crackdown has changed the climate at North.
"This is the calmest year I've seen," Rochette said. "Everything across the board is less -- drinking, vandalism. If there's a party, it does get broken up. The RAs call the cops immediately."
The Jungle has changed from an unruly, 7-nights-a-week fiesta to a calmer, more orderly atmosphere. Rochette credits Community Police Officer Debbie Booker.
Booker, the only community police officer at UConn, said North was assigned its own police officer two years ago because, traditionally, it's been an epicenter of crime. On weekends it would tie up valuable police resources, she said, because officers would have to make several calls a night.
"Anyone who lives in the dorms and wants to party -- they lived here," Rochette said.
Then, in January 2000, UConn Police and the Department of Residential Life assigned a community police officer to deal specifically with North and Northwest dorms, and things started to change. Resident assistants got stricter and the floor parties got broken up more quickly, he said. Anyone underage who wanted to drink had to do it with his or her door closed.
More crimes were committed and arrests made at North campus over a two-year period than at any other dorm on campus, a review of a computerized police log obtained from the UConn Police Department shows.
North, located across from the Life Sciences building on North Eagleville Road, is the largest dorm complex, with eleven buildings housing 1,347 students.
From June 1999 to the end of May 2001, a total of 210 incidents or arrests occurred at North, 98 more than the 112 at Towers, the dorm with the second highest number of reported crimes. North accounted for roughly 25 percent of crimes in campus residences, the logs show, yet it has just 13 percent the residential students.
According to Rochette, the crackdown has changed the climate at North.
"This is the calmest year I've seen," Rochette said. "Everything across the board is less -- drinking, vandalism. If there's a party, it does get broken up. The RAs call the cops immediately."
The Jungle has changed from an unruly, 7-nights-a-week fiesta to a calmer, more orderly atmosphere. Rochette credits Community Police Officer Debbie Booker.
Booker, the only community police officer at UConn, said North was assigned its own police officer two years ago because, traditionally, it's been an epicenter of crime. On weekends it would tie up valuable police resources, she said, because officers would have to make several calls a night.