OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – Oshkosh Police have now taken four males into custody in connection to a string of robberies near the UW-Oshkosh campus.
Two 16-year olds were charged with Robbery, one 15 year old was charged with 2 counts of Robbery and one 14 year old was charged with Robbery.
The incidents reported involved people walking at night when they were physically assaulted and robbed. Two incidents are reported as attempted robberies. Three of those four incidents occurred within just a few block radius.
And while this investigation continues and the suspects are in custody, police are still reminding people to be careful when walking outside at night, especially with the weekend coming up.
UW-Oshkosh Police do their best to communicate with students and keep them safe. But Lieutenant Trent Martin says even their advanced text alerts only cover certain cases.
“The Titan Alert system is our big resource to communicate with students when things like that happen, but the downfall is that Titan Alert is really specific to incidents that happen on campus or impact our campus community directly,” Martin says.
The final incident reported on November 2nd happened on the same block as a campus residence hall, but it still wasn’t in University Police jurisdiction. That’s another reason Martin says their ability to disseminate details can be crippled.
“There’s a chance it hinders the investigation of the agency that is investigating the case outside of our jurisdiction. So if we go and push information out, that could potentially hinder their actual investigation.”
The campus does have blue light stations and a mobile tracking app for students to receive emergency attention to their location, but Martin says it only works if people use it.
The department also offers Safe Walk escorts with Community Service Officers around the campus area. Just this week the department also launched a new UWO GO service, which provides free safe rides to areas including Main Street, grocery stores, and parking lots near the Fox Valley Technical College campus across the river.
