Tulane University Police Department alerted students of an off-campus carjacking and off-campus mugging in the last week.

A non-Tulane affiliated woman was carjacked by two men at 8:50 a.m. on Maple and Lowerline streets March 2.

The men approached her as she waited for a friend in her unlocked car, ordered her out of the car, forcibly removed her from the vehicle and then drove away.

Tulane University Police Department Superintendent Jon Barnwell said that though the crime occurred in broad daylight, the incident alone does not prompt an expansion of TUPD patrol hours.

“It’s difficult aside from saturating the office with police officers, which we already do,” Barnwell said. “With that being an isolated incident that occurred, I don’t think we want to reallocate resources from the late night early morning hours to the daylight hours unless there seems to be a pattern that takes place.”

A second crime occurred that weekend at 2 a.m. Sunday on Maple and Pine streets. A man and a woman approached two students from behind as they were walking to campus. The woman pulled the female student’s hair and pushed her to the ground. She then stole the student’s cell phone, and both assailants escaped down Maple.

Barnwell said that though the female element of the crime was an anomaly, it does not predict the nature of future crimes.

“It just goes to show that everyone is capable of committing crime,” Barnwell said. “Gender is not an issue.”

Sophomore Mallory Avery said that gender played a role in the way students perceived the crime.

“Everyone who talked about it was very shocked that a girl would do that to another girl,” Avery said.

In response to the crimes, TUPD will not increase its frequency of patrols but will rather continue to utilize the strategies it developed last semester.

“I think what we’ve implemented from the start of the semester from a patrolling standpoint and an operational standpoint has impacted the amount of crime that has been occurring in the Uptown community,” Barnwell said. “We’re just going to continue to partner with New Orleans Police Department Second District to provide visual deterrence and response while also continuing our dialogue with the student safety committee on campus.”

Junior Tammy Vo said she thinks that the police department isn’t entirely at fault for the crimes occurring around campus.

“I think it also has to do with Tulane students being misinformed about the crime that could happen and how close it is to campus,” Vo said.

TUPD advises that Tulane students continue to be aware of their surroundings both on and off campus.

“[Students] have to be mindful of that when walking after hours and make sure that [they] stay alert and aware of what’s going on and reporting any suspicious activity to the police department immediately so we can respond and check on it,” Barnwell said.