This Homecoming weekend, prove everyone wrong.

Area police see a need for increased presence during the weekend. Show them you’ll do your best to make this less necessary.

Certainly, you can’t prevent every crime from happening. Out-of-town visitors will be on a campus you’re probably not familiar with. More than the normal weekend population will be out on campus and around town.

But you can control your own actions and please watch your guests. So often crime is perpetrated by out-of-towners.

Know that the local atmosphere will be different this weekend – whether or not you’re actually taking part in the weekend’s Homecoming events – and, for the most part, everything will probably be fine.

This doesn’t mean you should let your guard down.

During last year’s Homecoming weekend, three students were assaulted while walking back to Grant Towers North. The students were outside, picking up a pizza because of Homecoming visitor regulations. The Northern Star reported that one student nearly lost his life after a severe beating.

This is an extreme example, but clearly not an impossible one. Consider the multiple robberies and attacks that have cropped up in local news since the start of the semester.

These underline a fundamental point: Remain aware of your surroundings, especially in a situation where circumstances are different than normal. Don’t become so enveloped in your own plans that you lose sight of what’s going on around you.

After all, you won’t be the only one watching.

Visiting alumni and parents will be at NIU. Show them the weekend isn’t only about the tailgating or over-the-top partying, Homecoming-related or otherwise.

This weekend give the police a break.

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