A Sign to Stop

Sometimes when you ask the universe for a sign telling you whether or not you should be doing something, for example stealing a road sign, it makes the answer pretty clear, like when the word “stop” is literally right in front of you.

A Sun Link streetcar driver flagged down a University of Arizona Police Department officer on the corner of Second Street and Cherry Avenue on Feb. 2 at approximately 2:30 a.m.

The driver told the officer that a group of people walked down the street carrying a stop sign they had taken from the intersection at Second Street and Olive Road. 

The officer drove around until he spotted the group of about five people standing around a stop sign. He told them to stop where they were and approached to speak with them.

Each member of the group identified themselves using either a passport, ID card or driver’s license. All but one were UA students.

The officer spoke to each person individually. 

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According to their accounts, the group had been out drinking and were on their way to the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house, which one of the group members belonged to.

The group did not specify when or why they took the sign, though one member did tell the officer that they were college students just trying to have fun and didn’t know what they were going to do with it. The student did not consider the theft a big deal, though one person said she knew taking the sign was wrong and another said she told the group it was not a good idea to take it.

Only one of the group members admitted to taking the sign. One admitted to carrying it for some time, and three denied ever touching it. 

The officer cited and released the group member who was not a UA student for interference with official traffic sign, a class one misdemeanor.

The four UA students were referred to the Dean of Students Office Diversion Program.

The stop sign was unharmed and returned to its original location.

Getaway? Get out!

When one UA student ended up in a vacant room in Coronado Residence Hall, she probably thought her friends would visit her to hang out. Instead, the UAPD visited to stop the trespassing on Feb. 7.

According to the police report, after a resident assistant moved out of a room reserved for RAs, the room was slated to remain empty. However, the room shared a bathroom with the neighboring dorm.

Two other resident assistants were walking past the “vacant” room on Feb. 6 when they heard voices coming from the inside. They unlocked the door and found a student inside.

According to the RA, the room was decorated and had additional furniture inside that the student said was hers. She also admitted that she had not been given permission to live in the room but entered through the shared bathroom. She agreed to take her belongings out of the room.

However, on Feb. 7 at around 7 p.m., when another another RA was checking the hall, she also heard voices coming from inside the room. Having been informed what the other RAs had seen the other night, she opened the door.

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Inside was the same student from the previous day with four of her friends. The room was still filled with the student’s property, according to the RA.

The RA confronted the student about this, informing her what she was doing was considered trespassing. She told her to leave, to which the student said, “Yeah, I’m doing it.” The RA warned her that she would return in three hours to check if the room was empty.

When she returned, the RA found that the student was no longer in the room but had left her belongings inside. She called UAPD, and an officer arrived around 11:30 p.m. 

According to the officer, the room had stickers on the walls, lights hanging from the ceiling, clothes on the floor, photos on the dresser and trash in the garbage. 

The officer contacted the hall community director, who initially said she wished to press charges for trespassing and prosecute on behalf of Residence Life. However, the community director later called the officer back and said Residence Life would handle the issue administratively and not through the criminal justice system.

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