Students feel unsafe amid rising crime and police shortfalls in Westcott Neighborhood
Students feel unsafe amid rising crime in Westcott Neighborhood
With burglary rates climbing and police response lagging, off-campus residents are raising concerns about safety.
On Aug. 29, Mrem Megahed woke up to find her car keys missing. The Syracuse University senior’s keychain was still hanging by the front door, but the key to her Subaru was gone. After a frantic inspection of their home, Megahed and her roommates reported a burglary to the police.
Prior to the break-in, they had secured their home with a Ring camera, door jammers and by locking their doors. However, the responding officer dismissed their concerns, claiming no fingerprints were found and indicating it wouldn’t be classified as a burglary.
According to Megahed’s roommate, Megan Hughes, the officer gave them his information and told them to call when they found the keys so that he could cancel the case.
The next day, Hughes woke to find Megahed’s car gone.
“It was just so crazy. You open up the shutters and your roommate’s car is missing after a cop just told you that no one broke into our house and stole the key,” she said.
Frustrated, they called the police again, and four hours later, officers returned. This time, they discovered fingerprints, a broken window screen and clear signs of a break-in. Megahed expressed disappointment, feeling their concerns were ignored by an authority figure that they were supposed to trust.
With property crime rates rising in the surrounding neighborhoods, Syracuse Police have struggled to keep up. The department faces bureaucratic issues, with staffing shortages that have decreased police presence across the city. Internal issues and delays with the Citizen Review Board (CRB), the city’s police watchdog agency, have only further eroded public trust in the department.
The students filed a formal complaint against the officer for not taking their report seriously. The Syracuse Police Department responded with a letter indicating that the incident would be reviewed by the CRB. The board reviews Syracuse Police misconduct complaints and makes subsequent recommendations, though it has faced challenges this year that have hindered its efficiency.
The head of the CRB, Ranette Releford, recently announced her resignation following issues with case backlogs, delays and board members missing meetings. Despite 83 officer complaints, the board only held one misconduct hearing in 2023.
An uninvolved officer later recovered Megahed’s car, and suspect Jesse Dodrill was arrested after additional neighborhood burglaries. He faces charges including criminal possession of stolen property and has pleaded not guilty, though he has been released, according to the police report. Megahed and Hughes have not received updates on their case or the complaint.
Syracuse Police declined to comment amid the ongoing investigation.
Like Megahed, many students have been victims of recent break-ins. According to the police report, the same suspect who burglarized Megahed’s home also allegedly stole senior Ellie Haggerty’s laptop and her boyfriend’s car keys in the middle of the night. Haggerty has received no updates on her case since Dodrill’s arrest. The students are concerned for their safety, as the suspect has been released and knows where they live.
“I just think a lot of this could have been avoided if that first officer had taken us seriously and actually cared to do his job because he missed evidence,” Megahed said.
At a community meeting held by the Westcott Neighborhood Association, attendees echoed the frustrations of students, mentioning issues with communication and claiming that police failed to follow up on other burglary investigations. The meeting included Mayor Ben Walsh, District Captain Conklin, Police Chief Cecile and other elected officials, who addressed the residents’ concerns about increasing criminal activity.
“We can be better at doing that follow-up because this is a terrible thing, and then you’re sitting there wondering, ‘What happens next? Have they made any arrests?’” Cecile said at the meeting. “Moving forward, we just have to streamline that process.”
Over the past year, crime in the Westcott neighborhood has increased by 30%, with most investigations still open. With this surge, residents have expressed concerns about a decrease in police presence in the area due to department shortages.
The Syracuse Police has suffered from persisting staffing shortages for years. In 2022, the Common Council commissioned a two-year study designed to boost staffing at the Syracuse Police Department, costing the city about $155,000, according to Central Current. The study recently released its results, providing 87 recommendations such as civilianizing some roles within the department. According to CNYCentral, Cecile is supportive of a majority of the proposed solutions.
Still, students like Megahed and Hughes and Westcott residents feel at a loss with how to move forward and what more they could be doing to protect themselves. While Syracuse Police have promised increased patrols in the University Neighborhood, Hughes remains skeptical.
“They’re telling us we’ll watch your house, we’ll make sure you’re protected, but I don’t really feel protected by them at all,” she said.