A recent University of Dayton graduate said she and her roommates waited over two hours for city of Dayton police to arrive on Tuesday, Jan. 17, after she called because of a suspected break-in at her East Stewart Street home.

Lauren Cosby, who graduated in December 2011 with a bachelor's in chemical engineering, said she called UD police around 8:45 p.m. She said she and her roommate, Kasandra Maxwell, who also graduated in December with a bachelor's in electrical engineering, had just arrived home to find their door ajar. She said she recalled seeing Maxwell lock the door before they left for the evening.

"We didn't want to go in the house without an officer present, because we were afraid someone would still be in there," Cosby said.

Cosby said she first called UD police and the dispatcher gave her the phone number for the City of Dayton Police Department. She said the officer told her that her home was outside UD police jurisdiction because it is not owned or controlled by UD.

The UD police are responsible for the area "between Irving Avenue at the southern boundary, Wyoming Avenue at the north, Brown Street on the west and the [Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum] on the east side," according to Lt. Joe Cairo, UD police's head of patrol operations.

Cosby said she, Maxwell and their other roommate, senior chemistry major Danielle Hickman, sat in Cosby's car down the street from their house while they waited for the city police to arrive.

After another call to city of Dayton policy around 9:45 p.m., Cosby was told her first call hadn't been put on the dispatch list because it wasn't high priority.

Cosby said she then called UD police again and told the dispatcher about their wait.

A police officer finally arrived around 11 p.m., she said, and walked through the house to find nothing suspicious.

Cairo said UD police cannot respond to calls outside their jurisdiction unless they feel the incident is a safety issue or if Dayton police request their help. He said Dayton police ask UD police to respond to situations when they're understaffed or have higher-priority calls to fulfill several times a month.

"We have no business there unless the police for that area say 'hey, we need your help,'" Cairo said.

Cosby said the situation was frustrating because the UD police are so close to their house.

"I didn't really feel concerned that anything had been taken or vandalized but I just became irritated waiting for so long," Cosby said. "UD is right down the street. We weren't asking them to arrest anyone. We're students, we pay tuition and it's irritating we couldn't get anyone to come out."

Cairo said in a situation where students are left waiting by city police, they should call and ask the city to request the UD police respond.

"Living in the city of Dayton is different than living in a suburb where there's quick police response," Cairo said. "If you choose to live outside the confines of the university, you're choosing not to have university service, and police services is one of the things you're not going to have."

For non-emergency police requests, students can call the UD police at 937-229-2121 or the city of Dayton police at 937-333-COPS.