Update: College to adjust security procedures

By Jack Carver, Amanda Lorbetski and Morgan Davy

BELLEVILLE – Loyalist College is making adjustments to its security arrangements as a result of Thursday evening’s intrusion and robbery at a campus residence.

The news came in an email to everyone at the college from president Maureen Piercy early this afternoon.

“As a public organization, Loyalist College has thorough security protocols and professional security personnel in place. Our first priority is always the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff,” Piercy wrote.

“With respect to the incident on campus last evening, we are making adjustments to our security arrangements for the coming days as a prudent measure.”

The Belleville Police are working closely with the college on the case, “and the investigation continues,” Piercy’s memo said.

Earlier today, asked whether the college planned to hold a press conference about the incident, Loyalist spokeswoman Dianne Spencer said: “Everything we know, you know.”

Chris Prud’Homme, the college’s manager of maintenance and security, directed inquiries early this morning to Piercy or Spencer. Asked if he could confirm anything about the incident, he replied, “No,” as he ushered a reporter from his office.

On Thursday night residence students were posting about the incident on the college’s residence Facebook page, but the posts were removed by the page’s administrators. A QNet News story shared by a reporter this morning was taken down in less than a minute.