"It's definitely scary getting the emails about it all. I was like, 'Alright, I'm not walking around campus on a cell phone.' It just raised awareness," said freshman Stephanie Jacques.
Stephanie's concern is certainly shared by many of her classmates. It comes after the announcement that three /*Lehigh University*/ students were mugged at knifepoint in separate incidents over the past seven days in South Bethlehem.
Two of the robberies occurred this past weekend. Students we spoke with say it is alarming but not surprising.
"It's something that's happened before here. It's kind of common now, I guess. I try not to walk alone late at night," said junior Daniel Soltan.
A few months ago we reported a rash of burglaries in the off-campus apartments of dozens of Lehigh students. Bethlehem and university police stepped up their patrols, and several arrests were made. But students we spoke to here say, while the police efforts did help, there's still a problem.
"Lately they've putting in more cameras on campus to help out with this stuff. My car has been robbed on campus previously. Even though they keep trying to do more things to protect us, it's not working really," said sophomore Dandy DePietro.
"I know when I'm up early in the morning there are always cop cars blocking the area around here. You see the policemen. So there are people. I just don't know how much they're doing outside of campus," said sophomore Daniela Sonderegger.
One of the students who was mugged was also punched on the side of the head. The blow ruptured his eardrum. The other two victims were not injured. But in each case the thieves made away with cash, jewelry and cell phones.
Anyone with information on the cases is asked to call the /*Bethlehem Police Department*/.
