Sheriff’s closed the South Gym locker room for an hour Thursday May 26, around 1 p.m. to investigate a peeping tom who looked over a stall in the women’s restroom Tuesday night.
Amy McGovern, Pierce College student reported to the Sheriff’s station Tuesday May 24 that a male looked over the stall at her in the South Gym’s women’s restroom around 9 p.m.
Shilo Nelson, department chair of Kinesiology, was not notified about the incident and is irritated no one informed her what is going on.
“I’m just finding out about it now,” Nelson said. “I should’ve been told earlier about this.”
“They did a poor job on telling us what’s going on,” Nelson said. “It’s our safety, it’s the safety of the student’s, until I get clearance, there’s really nothing we can do.”
Nelson said she learned a man entered the women’s restroom and peered over the stall from a custodian who read a Facebook post from McGovern.
“That’s just not how we should find out these things. They need to communicate with us better,” Nelson said.
There are multiple night classes in the gym, and Nelson is worried a non student can walk onto campus and inside the South gym building.
“Who knows, someone can just come from the orange line to stop and use the bathroom,” Nelson said. “It could have been anybody.”
Nelson said that if they had proper security cameras around the building students would feel safer on campus.
“At least in the locker room entry way, that would be great,” Nelson said. “To see who comes in and who goes out.”
Nelson believes there should be better communication from the Sheriff’s office.
“I should be hearing everything that happens in here from the Sheriff’s,” Nelson said. “Usually there’s things going on in our bathrooms at night. There has been so much going on in the past month, like drug associations, in both locker rooms, we’re finding used condoms, it’s ridiculous.”
Nelson said the Sheriffs are suppose to walk through the gym at night and make sure the doors are locked by 11 p.m.
“The custodians are sometimes telling me when they come in at 4:30 a.m. they find the doors wide open,” Nelson said. “Something could happen between 11 [p.m.] to 4:30 [a.m.].”
“I would think they would be very hypervigilant and really walking through it,” Nelson said. “At least if the exteriors doors were locked, I don’t think we would have this problem.”
Nelson’s biggest concerns is the safety of all students and children who come through the gym locker rooms. Nelson recommends students to walk in pairs, especially at night.
Deputy Alfred Guerrero announced in the Pierce College Council (PCC) meeting that they will continue to patrol the campus.