Abhijit Mahato, a Duke University engineering graduate student, was murdered Jan. 18 in his apartment, less than two miles from Duke University’s campus and about 20 miles from N.C. State.
Mahato’s death, as well as four robberies involving Duke students or faculty committed since Jan. 1, has raised questions about campus safety for many University campuses in the Triangle.
However, Capt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police said the two campuses are worlds apart.
“It’s difficult to compare the two universities and their locations. N.C. State is a public university, while Duke is private … Raleigh Police are free to roam around our campus, but Duke is a private institution on private land, so if Durham Police were driving around there, it would be like a cop driving through your backyard,” he said.
According to an e-mail from Duke President Richard Brodhead to Duke students, armed robberies have spiked throughout Durham in recent weeks.
Kiley Samz, a Duke freshman in biology, said that she did not know Mahato personally, but his death has upset her and the Duke community, but finds the murder not shocking for its setting.
“The murder seems to have hit home for a great deal of the Duke community,” Samz said. “It’s easy to overlook a few robberies and blame them on students for being idiotic enough to walk home from some arbitrary venue alone, drunk at 2 a.m., but when a student gets murdered a few blocks away in his own apartment, it’s unsettling… [but] I figured it was bound to happen sooner or later. Of course I was a little melancholy about the death of a fellow Duke student, but in light of the recent surge in armed robbery, break-ins and hold-ups, a murder seems logical.”
Doug Henningsen, a Duke freshman in chemistry, echoed Samz’s sentiments.
“For a part of me, it was shock [when I heard about the death of Mahato], and for another, just ‘I told you so,'” Henningsen said. “Living in Durham, with the campus situated in high-crime areas as it is, takes away the surprise of most of these crimes.”
Because of the recent murder, Duke Police will continue to patrol designated areas on and off campus in conjunction with Durham Police to secure the area around the campus, according to Brodhead’s e-mail.
Stephen Lavance Oates was charged with Mahato’s murder and 17 other robberies Thursday and is being held without bond for the shooting charges, the News and Observer reported Thursday.
Barnwell said the relationship between Campus Police and the Raleigh Police is different in Raleigh. Because Campus Police’s jurisdiction is only on State’s campus, they cannot directly aid students off-campus, but they maintain a close relationship with Raleigh Police.
“We cannot do much to help students off-campus … but we can relay information to Raleigh Police so they can take the appropriate action,” he said.
Barnwell encouraged students to report suspicious incidents or people whenever seen on campus to create a safer academic environment.
“We would like to emphasize that crime can happen anywhere … and we encourage our students, faculty and staff to use safety escorts [while traveling on or around campus after hours],” Barnwell said.
Samz said she realizes what can happen if she is not careful when traveling at night and understands the importance of staying safe on and around Duke’s campus. She said she stores a baseball bat underneath her bed and carries pepper spray at all times.
“A lot of students view Duke as some impenetrable bubble in the center of Durham Wasteland — once you’re inside campus borders, nothing can hurt you, but outside them, you’re fair game,” Samz said.
