To the thief who has stolen and continues to steal,

Rumor has it that you’ve stolen from others too, not just my family, and that you’ve made your way around apartments and cars on campus the last few weeks and taken similar things from those people as well.

To most people, you have only stolen replaceable things, a backpack and a few electronics. But you have really stolen so much more than that, you have stolen something that has no monetary value, so you really don't care.

You have stolen my sense of security.

I grew up on this campus and it has been somewhere that I used to feel safe and comfortable and now I can’t even bring myself to go to class because I am afraid that you are there in class with me.

I am afraid to walk across campus to get lunch because I am afraid you will see me walking or that you will be in line with me at the cafeteria.

I am afraid to be in my dorm room because I am afraid you will follow me and that you know where I live.

Because of you, I am now afraid to be at a place that I have considered my second home for the past 9 years.

I tried to not let you affect me, but I couldn’t not let it affect me.

You stole personal things, things that had photos of myself and my brothers stored on them. You very well may know what I look like and you obviously know where I go to school. Despite my best efforts to remain resilient, I am now living in fear.

And it’s not fair.

This is my home away from home. I grew up here and I have a huge network of people that go here and work here that are as close as family to me yet I am still afraid to walk to the other side of the block to go to class.

I should not be the one living in constant fear, you should be. You should be living in constant fear that someone is going to catch you and pin every single crime you have managed to commit on you and you will spend your future behind bars because that is exactly where you belong.

I am sick of talking about it. I am sick of telling people what happened . I am sick of telling people why on earth I am afraid to go to class and walk through campus.

But there is one thing that I do know, you will not get away with this. You may have gotten away from the scene of the crime this time, but I guarantee that you will not get away with it much more. Someday you will have to own up to your actions and I hope that that day is coming soon because you do not deserve to walk around as if nothing has happened.

You do not deserve to go about your daily life when you have wrecked the way that I go about mine and the way countless other people that you have stolen from do as well.

I cannot wait until what goes around finally comes around and you are locked away forever.

-The girl whose sense of security you stole

After numerous break-ins on our campus, the students of Adrian College are saying that enough is enough and have started a petition to have increased security measures and a meeting between campus safety and the Adrian Police Department and students held to ensure that we are as safe as we can be and that our belongings are safe from thieves whether we are in class, on weekend break or away at sporting events. You can find and sign the petition here.