So this is it.  We have reached the end of another academic year. Depending on your perspective, this year may have flown by like a meteor or dragged on like a receding glacier, but either way, it is over. The Case Western Reserve University Police Department will keep an eye on the campus while you are away doing great things over the summer, and we will try to keep things here together as the Republican National Convention sweeps through Cleveland in July.

This year has seen the usual mix of underage drinkers falling out of trees, thefts of unattended items and unfortunately a few robberies of students and non-students in the University Circle area.  CWRU PD has tried to meet the challenges of campus policing in an urban environment as best we can, as we always do.  From using contract security to boost our eyes on the ground to the expanding functionality of CWRU Shield, we continue to try and find new ways to fulfill our primary mission: to protect the safety of the students, staff and visitors to our campus.

Commencement is the culmination of all the blood, sweat and late nights at Kelvin Smith Library that have been put in throughout the year. It is generally a happy time, as people celebrate their accomplishments, but it can also be bittersweet as you say goodbye to people who won’t be returning in the fall. Good luck, we’ll miss you.

So this is the last On The Beat for the year. I have had some fun trying to share observations of campus life and impart a few campus safety tips along the way, hopefully laced with a bit of humor (or at least what I consider to be humor). I appreciate those who have shared feedback on the column with me, good or bad. So to the Class of 2016, congratulations, best of luck and go forth and do great things. To the rest of you, don’t leave your valuables by the track (had to get that in there), stay safe and be well. Let’s look out for each other.

On the Beat is a weekly safety column written by Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko of CWRU PD. He welcomes questions, suggestions and gripes/groans/moans/complaints about campus life at policecolumn@case.edu.