We are approaching Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. No costumes to wear, gifts to buy or pretending to care about your fellow man—just overeating with family and friends and watching football on the couch in a semi-comatose state. Thanksgiving is followed by finals and Winter Break, so On the Beat will be signing off until 2016. Remember to lock your rooms, secure your valuables, unplug appliances and please (please!) clean out the fridge before you leave. We’ll keep the lights on until you get back.

Before signing off I would like to respond briefly to some of the issues raised in the last Observer regarding campus safety. Campus safety is the Case Western Reserve University Police Department’s reason for existence, and we take it very seriously, are always seeking to improve and are interested in student and staff feedback. Campus safety will always be a cooperative effort between us and the campus community. We can’t be everywhere, and we need you to help tell us what is happening where on the campus.

It is also a good idea to be proactive about your own safety—use the services provided by the university like Safe Ride, CWRU Shield and emergency phones. Stay aware of your surroundings and not too deeply buried in your phones or electronics when moving around campus. You have the right to walk down a dark alley at 3 a.m. in a free society in the same way you have the right to swim in shark-infested waters coated in steak sauce if you choose, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.

CWRU is an urban university, which can provide great benefits in terms of access to cultural institutions and a range of dinner options, but it also presents challenges. The campus is bordered by some statistically high crime areas that have been that way for a long time. The university has to balance its desire to be a good neighbor against that reality. CWRU PD is also bound by resource and jurisdictional boundaries that dictate where we can and cannot take action.

So we will continue to strive to do our best to keep the campus community as safe as possible. Let’s all take a little break, have some eggnog and do it again in 2016. And let’s look out for each other.