SRSC locker space aids theft prevention

Additional locker space on the upper level of the Student Recreational Sports Center is unrelated to increased instances of theft, Associate Director of Recreational Sports Jackie Puterbaugh said.

The SRSC installed the additional storage space for safety and increased theft prevention, she said.

“We had been lax with enforcing where people put their stuff,” she said.

Students leaving their belongings on the side of basketball courts where players could trip posed a safety hazard, she said.

Puterbaugh said at different times of the year, the SRSC experiences more thefts than at other times, but the lockers are “not a response to more thefts than normal.”

Some students come from neighborhoods where theft is not prevalent and would leave items such as billfolds and coats by the basketball courts and not watch them, she said.

“We don’t want students to have to deal with the consequences of theft,” she said.

Recreational Sports staff members spoke with students and found they didn’t use the previously existing lockers on the lower level because the lockers weren’t big enough to hold backpacks and gym bags.

Students said the lockers were not located close enough to facilities they wanted, such as the weight or conditioning rooms.

Larger lockers were taken from the Wildermuth Intramural Center and placed in the SRSC outside the weight room.

The decision to place an SRSC employee outside the weight room is also unrelated to added surveillance, Puterbaugh said. It was a customer service decision, allowing patrons to be greeted and assisted in signing up for cardio equipment, although she said it has an added benefit of having someone watching students’ belongings.

The WIC locker rooms underwent renovation two years ago, so no plans exist to provide additional locker space, Puterbaugh said.