One month later: Campus safety improves after Burk murder

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In just four weeks, the campus of Auburn University has changed.

It’s not because of construction, but rather how university and law enforcement officials have increased the level of security in the wake of the March 4 murder of 18-year-old freshman Lauren Burk.

Auburn’s Assistant Police Chief Tommy Dawson said there are more patrol officers on and around campus since the tragedy, both in cars and on foot in plain clothes. For security, Dawson won’t divulge the exact number of officers assigned to campus, but says it is significant. The police division is also making more use of its bicycle patrol and plans to utilize the newly acquired three-wheelers.

“It’s mainly to make the students comfortable,” Dawson said.

After four years on the Plains, senior Caroline Ratcliff feels as if campus is patrolled better now because of the additional officers she sees every day.

“Just seeing them has made me, as a student, feel safer, definitely since the incident with Lauren Burk,” she said.

When Courtney L. Lockhart, 23, of Smiths Station, was arrested by area authorities March 7, he confessed he forced Burk into her car on campus, robbed her of personal items, and drove her around,
forcing her to remove her clothing, according to affidavits presented at his initial court appearance.

After shooting her and leaving her body on North College Street between Lee Road 72 and U.S. Highway 280, Lockhart said he drove her car back to campus and set it ablaze, according to the affidavits.

Burk died at East Alabama Medical Center the evening of March 4 as a result of a single gunshot wound.

Lockhart is in Lee County detention facility, awaiting a preliminary hearing April 23. He is charged with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder during an attempted rape.

Dawson, the father of a teenage daughter, was one of many local law enforcement officials who took Burk’s death personally.

He has since become close friends with her family, especially Lauren’s father, Jim. He said they talk weekly, if not daily.

“A good police officer, when a crime is committed in his city especially, will take it personally because that’s what we’re there for, that’s what the citizens pay us for—to keep them safe, protect them and make them feel safe in their environment,” Dawson said. “That’s the thing that bothers us the most. We want everyone to feel safe and realize they do have a safe community here in Auburn.”

University officials have taken a lot of criticism in the weeks after Burk died for not notifying students earlier of her death or that her alleged killer remained at large.

There are a number of security cameras on campus, but more were ordered months before. No one will say where the current cameras are or where the new ones will go.

AU Alert started last fall as a means of notifying students, faculty and staff who had signed up in the event of emergency situations that require immediate action. Burk’s death didn’t warrant any action, so it was not used for that purpose, officials have said. It was used, however, to deny rumors of any danger to campus at that time.

Since the death, officials have decided to use it for multiple emergency situations. An alert was sent out Friday afternoon, for instance, via text and voice messages and e-mails, warning of the impending severe weather.

University officials and police have shared a close relationship for years, but students are involved now more than ever. Just as the police rely on citizens to help patrol the city, they are relying more and more on students to ensure safety for all on campus.

Dawson has spoken on campus a few times in the past month to specifically talk about safety to students. The best advice he gives—use the buddy system.

“I don’t want anyone to be a victim again,” he said.

Ratcliff doesn’t have much time left before she leaves Auburn, but she believes the lessons learned from Burk’s death are valuable for now and forever.

“I’m so much more aware of my surroundings and the people around me, and I’m much more conscious of just little things, like always locking your door even though you might not be the only one there,” she said.

Corporal Brock Young, a 2003 Auburn graduate, said the Burk tragedy has personally made him work more vigilantly.

He said some officers, including himself, still feel a sense of responsibility in the matter.

“All we can do when something like that happens is improve so we can keep something like this from happening again,” he said.

Young believes it’s more important now than ever to know which buildings are used by students at night and to recognize anything out of place or suspicious, especially around parking lots and residence halls.

Auburn’s campus has too many “nooks and crannies” not to be, he said.