Students worried about safety after stand-off

Because of the recent rash of violent crimes occurring around campus, University students said last night that they are not receiving adequate protection from University Police. In the past week alone, University Police records indicate that numerous crimes involving weapons have occurred in and around campus. Tuesday night, police staked out two gunmen in the 4100 block of Baltimore Avenue, in which gun fire was exchanged. College junior Craig Abbs, an eyewitness to the event, said he was sitting in a parked Penn Escort van when two men ran up next to the van and opened fire on undercover Philadelphia police officers. "They were laughing as they were running, and laughing as they were shooting," Abbs said. Abbs said he was taken to the Philadelphia Police's 18th district station for questioning after the incident. The incident, he added, greatly changed his view of campus safety. "Last night, the gunman was five feet away from me, opening fire on police officers two blocks away from campus," he said. "The incident made life on campus a lot more dangerous, because it brought the serious crime right in the middle of where students are living," Abbs added. Two attempted car-jackings have also taken place since Tuesday. The first occurred at 44th and Baltimore streets at about 2:25 a.m. Tuesday. Philadelphia resident Alfred Coffee allegedly approached a man while simulating a weapon and told him to get out of the car, Philadelphia Police Spokesperson Ben Frazier said last night. Philadelphia Police arrested Coffee and charged him with robbery, theft and receiving stolen property. In the second incident, a woman and her child escaped from a near-car-jacking at 38th and Spruce streets early Wednesday morning at about 1 a.m., the Veteran's Affairs Hospital reported. When she stopped at the traffic light at 38th and Spruce streets, a man got out of his car and and approached her with a knife, trying to pry open the driver's side door. The woman was able to drive away before the man could open the door. According to the 1992 Safer Living Guide written and distributed by University Police, the University Police Department is "comprised of a patrol force of almost 100 officers and supervisors." But, last night University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said the department currently employs 70 patrol officers. The department is in the process of hiring seven to eight more officers, he added. Abbs said when he is driving his Escort van late at night he does not see any police cars. "All you see are Escort vans, you don't see any police patrolling," Abbs said. Kuprevich said the police shift which runs from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on average employs 14 officers, between car, foot and bike posts. He added that there is not as much crime prevention off-campus as there is on-campus. "We could always do more to try and prevent what's going on," Kuprevich said. Abbs is not the only dissident voice among University students. College senior Jenny Friesenhahn said she knows five people who have been mugged, either at knifepoint or gunpoint, in University City. Three of these occurred during this past year, she added. Friesenhahn said the stake out and exchange of gunfire occurred "too close" for comfort. "I think it's just frightening that something that serious is happening in that area," she said. Kuprevich said University Police is trying to find ways to provide the same quality protection in the off-campus area as in the on-campus area. "We focus on our primary jurisdiction responsibility, which is campus property, buildings and area," Kuprevich said. "We're trying to take that same philosophy and commit it to the community area in West Philadelphia where we have police jurisdiction," he added.