Approximately 10:30 Tuesday morning, a Saint Louis University
student was the victim of a strong-arm robbery in front of the
Shell station on Grand Boulevard, according to Jack Titone,
director of the Department of Public Safety. The student was not
physically harmed.

Titone said that a man in Shell’s parking lot yelled at the
student, “Hey, come here.” The student later reported that he did
not know the man, and when he approached, the man asked to borrow
some money. After the student told him that he had none, the man
persisted and threatened the student verbally. The student gave the
man around $30, then returned to his dorm room. No weapons were
displayed, and the student did not contact DPS until around
noon.

“Don’t get into conversations with panhandlers,” Titone said,
warning students about walking around the perimeter of the
University. “A lot of these people are desperate.”

The area near the Shell station is typically the site of one or
two crimes every year, Titone said.

He said DPS has attempted to make the area safer by petitioning
the city to put up crosswalks at the intersection of Grand
Boulevard and Forest Park Parkway. He explained that DPS officers
patrol the area in their cars, on foot and by bicycle, but that
they cannot station an officer at Shell because it is private
property.

The DPS advisory committee is considering placing video cameras
near the area so that they can monitor activity off campus. Titone
said, however, “A solution (to the security problem) would be for
the University to buy up the (Shell) property.”

“We’re Catholics and Christians here, and we feel sorry for
these people,” Titone said, but he warned students that it is
dangerous to approach homeless people or panhandlers who hang out
near SLU. He also emphasized that students should call DPS for an
escort if they feel unsafe.