This past Sunday, Kerckhoff Hall was the scene of a
shooting.
When Officer Terrence Duren of university police shot alleged
trespasser Willie Davis Frazier, the security of on-campus
facilities was brought under the spotlight.
But trespassing problems do not normally end with an officer
firing a weapon, said Nancy Greenstein, director of UCPD community
services.
Most trespassers are escorted out of the building or told to
leave, she said.
“I’ve been here almost seven years, and this is the
first incident of this type I’ve seen,” she said.
Duren was performing a routine patrol around Kerckhoff Hall,
which included a study lounge, when he encountered Frazier,
according to investigators.
Frazier had allegedly trespassed into study lounges which are
restricted to UCLA students, faculty and staff.
Though security was breached in the study lounge, Greenstein
said the level of security in Kerckhoff Hall was adequate.
No further security was needed at the time because security
issues were not a major conflict in the Kerckhoff Hall study
lounges, she said.
Considering that many staff members working in Kerckhoff Hall
have not encountered a situation involving trespassing,
Sunday’s incident was a rare event.
Much of Kerckhoff Hall houses offices that offer student
services. Some staff in these offices say they cannot remember a
time when trespassing was an issue for them.
“We have people studying in (the office) until extra late,
but I don’t think anyone would come in here if they’re
not a student,” said Jullien Gordon, director of the Students
Heightening Academic Performance through Education Program.
The doors to the SHAPE office close at 6 p.m., and students have
to knock on the door to get inside. Other office doors in Kerckhoff
Hall are closed at all times.
In the California Public Interest Research Group office, the
door locks once it is shut. But even when the door is open,
trespassers have not been a major problem for CalPIRG staff, said
Mark Thornton, a third-year history student and CalPIRG staff
member.
Though CalPIRG has not had any problems concerning incidents of
trespassing, John Wooden Center employees encounter them on
occasion.
But the Student Media office has had to deal with several
instances of trespassers in the past year. Camera equipment has
been stolen, unknown individuals have been caught on security
cameras looking through office mail, and one trespasser was found
sleeping in the office overnight.
The John Wooden Center sometimes deals with trespassers who want
to use the gym without sponsorship. The only way a person who is
neither a student or faculty member can get a recreation card is
through sponsorship, said Angela Michael, assistant manager for the
Wooden Center.
Students and members of the gym must have their recreation card
checked by an employee who slides it through a verification
machine.
If non-members successfully get into the gym without being
verified, they are tracked down by the Wooden Center staff and
escorted out of the building.
Homeless trespassers were more common in the old Men’s Gym
because the building was older and there were more entrances where
transients could enter unnoticed, said Dennis Koehne, manager of
the Wooden Center.
Like many restricted areas on campus, transients are not a major
problem for the gym, and the shooting in the study lounge remains
one example of a rarely seen situation involving a trespasser.
Greenstein said the incident serves as a learning experience
that may bring changes in the way trespassing is dealt with.
“While you hope you never have another (incident) like
that, you hope that if you do, you can handle it better,” she
said.