The noose found hanging in a tree outside the Nyumburu Cultural Center was destroyed by Stamp Student Union maintenance workers before it could be entered as evidence, said an associate director at the center.
Additionally, video surveillance cameras in the area are not trained on the spot where the noose was found, leaving University Police with limited evidence to go on as they investigate the recent hate crime that appeared to be aimed at the center, an on-campus organization for black students and faculty.
“Any case like that, we want to be able to process any evidence from a scene, so it is definitely not what we would have preferred,” police Spokesman Paul Dillon said.
He added, however, that not having the noose won’t necessary stall the case.
“I don’t know what evidence we would have garnered from the noose itself,” Dillon said, insisting it would be “too much speculation to determine whether it would be of value or not.”
The university’s facilities maintenance workers are required to leave the scene of a possible hate crime untouched until police authorize the removal of offensive material, said Frank Brewer, associate vice president for facilities management.
“It is protocol to bring the evidence to the attention of police and let them do whatever they wish to do before the evidence is addressed or removed,” Brewer said.
However facilities workers at the Student Union operate independently of the rest of the university, Brewer said, and are subject to different protocol.
Officials at the Student Union did not return repeated calls for comment yesterday.
The incident, which police are treating as a hate crime, was condemned campus-wide this week by university and student leaders who blasted the noose as an offensive symbol of violent racism.
Anne Carswell, the associate director at the center, said while she hopes someone can be held responsible, the evidence does not seem promising.
“If they didn’t have the video camera down in that stairwell, and if nobody comes forward saying they’ve seen anyone, I don’t know how much more they can do,” Carswell said.
Even if the investigation does come to a halt, Carswell said the dialogue that has taken place since news of the noose broke has been encouraging.
“The dialogue is very important; bringing people together, uniting people, making people aware,” Carswell said.
But she said work is still needed to stem racism on the campus.
“Students also have said stuff like this goes on in the dormitory, and a lot of racism goes on in the classroom, so some of them, they see it all the time,” she said. “This just hit home.”
Officers are reviewing surveillance tape and interviewing potential witnesses, Dillon said, but insufficient footage and a lack of witnesses to the noose’s actual placement have left investigators without any promising leads.
“We’ll pursue it until we’ve exhausted all investigative leads,” Dillon said. “There will come a time, as with any criminal investigation, when you’ve exhausted all of your leads.”
Dillon said he could not comment on when that time might come.
Security cameras outside the center are not trained on tree where the noose was found or a nearby stairwell, Dillon said, so police cannot actually view tape of the noose being hung.
Nyumburu staff took pictures and shot video of the noose before it was removed by maintenance workers, Carswell said.
Dillon added that police have spoken with a number of people, and though he declined to comment on what information police were given, he said no one saw the noose being hung.
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