University Times

Campus police hope to open a temporary mini-station in Sutherland Hall to help head off an upsurge in upper campus crime related to construction of the University's convocation center, Pitt Police Chief Deborah Furka said at yesterday's Staff Assembly.

"We know it's going to become increasingly active because of the construction that's going to be going on up there. We're trying to impact the situation before any problems start," Furka said.

Chancellor Mark Norden-berg has said he hopes the $52 million convocation center, proposed for the northeast side of Pitt Stadium, will be finished within five years.

A section of the convocation center has been set aside for a Pitt police mini-station, similar to one at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Bouquet Street. But until then, police want to create a temporary station in Sutherland Hall, Furka said.

With planning for the convocation center underway, more people and vehicles are passing through the area around Pitt Stadium and Trees Hall, Furka noted. "For those of you who park your cars up there, please be very careful," she told audience members. "Don't leave things out in the car. We do get car break-ins on the street." Representatives of the Pitt and City police forces have formed a joint task force to develop strategies for fighting crime around the borders of the upper campus, Furka said.

She added that campus police also are planning to establish a mini-station on Pitt's middle campus, which she defined as the area north of Fifth Avenue and south of O'Hara and Terrace Streets. Police have not yet identified a possible site for the middle campus station, she said.

Pitt's Staff Association Council sponsored the Assembly.

— Bruce Steele