University of California, Berkeley

In light of recent reports of serious crimes, parents of UC Berkeley students and other community members say Cal needs to “do more to ensure student safety.”

Armed robbers forced their way into the back of a Berkeley clothing store Thursday morning and stole money from the store’s safe, authorities say.

The incident occurred at 2nd Street, a vintage clothing store at 2543 Telegraph Ave. (at Blake Street) in the Southside neighborhood near UC Berkeley.

According to police, two armed men followed an employee into the clothing store shortly before 10 a.m.

According to the hours published on 2nd Street USA’s website, the store was not yet open that day.

The men, who were wearing masks and dark clothing and were described as 6 feet tall, “ordered staff to the back of the store and demanded cash from the safe,” Berkeley police said in response to a request from Scanner.

After taking the cash, the men fled the area, police said.

Officers responded immediately and searched the neighborhood for witnesses and surveillance footage, according to the audio recording viewed by The Scanner.

Further information was not initially available.

Compared to last year’s significant increase, the number of robberies in Berkeley has decreased overall this year.

However, according to the BPD, there have been more than half a dozen robberies in the immediate vicinity of the UC Berkeley campus in recent weeks.

(As of June 29, crimes have stopped being posted on the UCPD crime mapping website, but a daily log is still available.)

On July 29, UC Berkeley Police sent out a WarnMe alert after a 21-year-old UC Berkeley student was robbed in the 2400 block of College Avenue (near Haste Street) at around 7:10 a.m.

In this incident, according to the police, the robber ran up to a young woman from behind and ripped the bag from her shoulder.

The student tried to hold on to her bag, but the robber managed to snatch it from her and fled with it in a white four-door vehicle heading west on Haste Street.

The authorities did not publish a description of the perpetrator in their published WarnMe warning.

As of this week, no arrests have been reported in the case, Berkeley police said.

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Campus officials advised “community members in the area to continue to exercise caution” even though the curfew has been lifted.

Robberies were not the only worrying incidents near campus in recent weeks.

Last week, gunfire near UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Track and Hillside Campus sparked a manhunt and lockdown near Cal, causing widespread concern in the community.

This was the second shooting reported on UC Berkeley campus this year (neither resulted in injuries).

SafeBears, a nonprofit group formed last year by UC Berkeley parents and other community members in response to neighborhood safety concerns, issued a strong statement after last week’s shooting, calling on Cal to “do more to keep students safe.”

“UC Berkeley continues to struggle with sending timely and informative emergency alerts, despite promising improvements following the communications problem during the Sproul Plaza shooting earlier this year,” SafeBears said.

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UC Berkeley will now “take a closer look at our WarnMe protocols, including messaging and expanding the list of campus officials with access.”

In its statement, the group said UC Berkeley used confusing language in its security alert last week, referring to a campus location by obscure initials rather than its full name and failing to include a description of the suspect in initial messages.

SafeBears also called for better equipment for the police and an increase in personnel for the future.

“There appears to be no camera footage to help law enforcement identify and apprehend the suspect,” SafeBears continued. “And the fact that UC Berkeley Police has only half the number of officers it had 10 years ago makes preventing and combating campus crime that much more difficult.”

Since the initial investigation into the shooting was completed, campus officials have made little comment on the investigation.

UC Berkeley’s fall semester begins next week.