Campus safety emailed "incident" explained

Taylor Whitaker - Staff Writer

On October 14, Campus Safety Director Chris McLaughlin issued a statement to the students and staff of Monmouth College reporting an incident that started on campus and ended on Ninth Street.

            Monmouth Police Chief Switzer said, “We had an incident out here two weeks ago where a mom and her two kids were walking through campus and a man approached them and touched her inappropriately, and nobody wants that.”

             “From my understanding [the resident was] playing Pokémon Go with her kids,” said McLaughlin. “The Monmouth Police Department had kind of told us where the alleged incident happened and then they asked us if we could provide any video footage. I don’t know 100% what happened; we were just told later that an arrest had been made.”

Both parties involved are residents of the Monmouth community, not students on campus. Switzer said, “We have, unfortunately, people who come on to campus, too, that have nefarious reasons for being on campus. It's the same thing I tell my daughter, always be aware of what's going on around you, whether that's on campus, or at the gas station, or the bar, wherever.”

“We work very closely with the Monmouth Police Department. I communicate with them probably two or three times a month. We refer to them with suspicious activity. Last year, vehicles were being broken into, so we started expanding our patrol area to be seen in neighboring areas to make sure we are being proactive. They helped us with safeguards so we could deter people from breaking into vehicles” McLaughlin said.

Campus Safety is available 24/7 to students, call (309) 457-3456 for assistance.