By Katherine NesSmith
Fall 2023
In today’s society stealing has become much more prevalent even into small towns and even Oklahoma State University has been affected by this uproar in theft. There are many reasons as to why this has been happening from lack of funds to support one’s own family to just dumb fun to harm people. While Oklahoma State University and it’s students have been affected by these recent robberies I think it is important to shed some light on the why this may be happening.
On October twelfth, twenty twenty-three there were a reported seventeen burglaries in parking lot two, while an additional three were reported in the Fourth Avenue Parking Garage. (OSU Department of Public Safety) Oklahoma State University’s Police Department advised students to lock their vehicles and to keep valuables out of sight to prevent any further burglaries. While great advice, this does raise the question, what will Oklahoma State University’s Police Department do to combat further burglaries?
One problem victims of the burglaries on the twelfth expressed is that parking lot two does not have cameras that observe the lot. This, in the eyes of the victims and other students, makes it nearly impossible to find the perpetrator(s) of these burglaries. One student in a survey I conducted on the twenty-fifth of October stated that, “Due to there being no cameras outside, I am now having to pay four-hundred dollars for my window that somebody broke,”. This student has expressed what most students have felt about the recent robberies, in that many of these cases could have already been resolved if there was proper surveillance on campus parking lots.
In the poll that I conducted on the twenty-fifth I prompted the question to victims of these robberies “Did you tell OSU PD about the robbery? Was anything resolved?”. In response a whopping sixty-one point six percent of participants reported the robbery but nothing was resolved, a miniscule percent of seven point seven were resolved, and the remaining thirty point eight percent did not report the burglary at all. In this survey I held I asked the victims of these robberies what was stolen and the answers ranged from nothing at all and their vehicle was just ransacked to an air mattress and other personal belongings.
Oklahoma State University has not been the only one affected by a rise in thefts in recent times, many cities in Oklahoma have been seeing an increase in robberies from anything from small goods from the local grocery stores to stealing automobiles. I have witnessed this rise in theft first hand. I used to live in a small town in southern Oklahoma, throughout my years growing up there I watched the neighborhood I grew up become more violent as theft rates increased. A particular memory I have from a few years ago was waking up to police in my home because my aunt’s car had been broken into. She had been living with my family at the time and everything of value in her purse had been taken. She had also had a withdrawal from her bank account of three hundred dollars. Luckily, the police were able to find the culprit and arrest him, but this was a wake up call for me and other members of my family as to how much the rate of theft had increased
With the recent uproar in robbery one question comes to my mind, why? I believe the answer to that question lies in the economic state of the world at the moment. The living wage of a family of four with one source of income in Oklahoma is thirty-seven dollars and eight cents an hour (living wage.mit.edu) while the minimum wage has not changed from the seven dollars twenty-five cents it has been since two-thousand-nine(dol.gov). While seven dollars and twenty-five cents may have been enough then to keep above the poverty line it has, that is not the case now-a-days. These days that same family of four income must stay over thirteen dollars and thirty-four cents to stay over the poverty line in Oklahoma.
The stresses of money have caused more people to steal out of necessity to survive or to keep their children fed. The average wage in Oklahoma makes nineteen dollars and eighty-nine cents an hour. (workstream.us) This is far lower than the livable wage for that family of four previously mentioned. While I do not condone stealing sometimes in desperate times it can appear logical to take the risk and steal to maintain survival of yourself or your family.
While there are several support groups to aid in money troubles many have to be below or near the poverty line and those who may be struggling are not eligible for those aids. There are also several horrible images surrounding the use of federal aid, many seeing people on assisted living such as food stamps as lazy and taking advantage of the system. I have heard many of these opinions from my own family members. All of the societal pressure to be able to live without those aids may also contribute to the increase in theft rates.
The rise in robberies has been noticed by many even in small towns across Oklahoma. While the recent robberies at Oklahoma State university have been unfortunate it also raises the concern as to why among the students and residents at Oklahoma State university, There are many unknowns as to why people choose to steal while it seems most likely that it is due to lack of funds and proper access to financial support as well as the societal pressure to live without those assistance lest you be seen as less than. I believe that once these issues are fixed the theft rates in Oklahoma and the United States of America will drop but until these issues are fixed, they will continue to rise.
Works Cited
“Announcements – Oklahoma State University.” Announcements | Oklahoma State University, 25 Sept. 2020, safety.okstate.edu/announcements/.
“History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 – 2009.” DOL, http://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.
“Living Wage Calculator.” Living Wage Calculator – Living Wage Calculation for Oklahoma, livingwage.mit.edu/states/40. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023. Workstream. “Wages in Oklahoma 2023.” Workstream, http://www.workstream.us/wage-index/oklahoma#:~:text=The%20average%20wage%20in%20Oklahoma%20varies%20depending%20on%20the%20occupation,average%20annual%20salary%20is%20%2441%2C371. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.
archiveoklahoma.com 