LETTER: Student sees safety in numbers

To the Editor: It is extremely easy for students to bitch and moan over the lack of security and high crime rate in the neighborhood, including and surrounding the University of Pennsylvania. Every day, we read about "isolated" criminal incidents that leave certain students victimized. I am not saying that these students are at fault for being the unsuspecting prey of an experienced criminal. But students have to wake up and realize that they must not defer responsibility to others! Everybody must do something to diminish crime! In the aforementioned article, the thief was suspected to have walked around Hill House for two full hours after the crime was committed! People saw the man, looking somewhat out-of-place in the dormitory, but did nothing about it. This man could have killed somebody. Yet many students saw him and assumed somebody else would take care of it! University Police has an extremely tough job patrolling the University campus and surrounding neighborhood. There will always be crime, and there will always be student victims. But unless the students on this campus are willing to call the police after seeing suspicious things, the force is virtually helpless. The University population is over 20,000. If these 20,000 people would serve as watchdogs, reporting anything suspicious, then the power of the small police staff will be multiplied exponentially. If you see something out of the ordinary, call the police! Do not let you or your friends become a victim! LARA SASS College '94