(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS — Two armed robberies at Thompson Rivers University have prompted Kamloops police and campus staff to send out a warning to the public to be vigilant when walking around the university, especially during the night.

The first robbery took place on March 11 at 2:30 p.m. when a man walking near Wolfpack Road and College Drive was robbed of his wallet by a man with a knife. A few weeks later, police said a lone person was approached by three men who ordered him to hand over his personal belongings in the area of College Drive and University Drive. In that instance, one of the suspects allegedly drew a small black pistol. 

In both cases, the victims were not physically harmed, police say.

Matt Milovick, the university’s vice-president of administration and finance, says after the first incident occurred on campus, the university sent out a communication alert about general campus safety and listed precautions students and staff should take if they planned to work late at night at the campus.

“It’s unfortunate these things happen,” he says. “We view — and I think our records speak for itself — the campus as an extremely safe place. It’s just unfortunate sometimes that people do bad things.”

Milovick says in his six years working at the university, robberies have been pretty rare occurrence.

“I can’t think of a time where we had two robberies on campus within the stand of about a month,” he says. 

Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says no evidence indicates the two incidents are related at this time.

Some safety tips police would like to pass on to the public include:

• Don’t walk alone at night or at all if you can avoid it.
• Be aware of your surroundings.
• Call the police if you see anything suspicious.
• If you are robbed, follow the instructions of the robber to keep yourself safe and get a good description of the suspect to supply to police.

Shelkie says there have been no suspects identified or arrests made in the TRU robberies. She also says the university has no past history of robberies.

Milovick says campus security continue to do regular patrols and people should let them know if they plan on staying at the university late into the evening.

"We have our blue phones all throughout the campus that people are aware of to use in an event of an emergency and in the event that they don't have a cellphone," he says. 

For more information on campus safety tips go here.

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