Police investigating communication breach

In the aftermath of several instances of violence which plagued the campus area after Penn Relays late last month, inter-staff communication within the University Police Department was awash with confusion. It was not until the Tuesday after the weekend, May 3, that University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich heard about three reported rounds of gunshots and people being assaulted as they tried to pass in their cars through a large crowd at 40th and Chestnut streets. And this confusion spilled over to University administrators. Interim President Claire Fagin said she had heard of incidents occurring Saturday night, but was assured by Kuprevich that nothing had happened. The reason for this is that the information -- which police supervisors put into a computer system and print out onto summary sheets -- did not follow its usual pattern. In fact, most of the information never made it to the summary sheets, Kuprevich said. "It is our best estimate that there was information in the computer that would have normally been placed on the summary sheets," Kuprevich said. He added that he believes all the information was entered into the computer, but never reached his desk. Last Monday evening, however, University Police Sergeant Keith Christian could only find one of the reported shootings, which occurred at 39th and Chestnut streets, in the system. None of the other incidents, even one at which University Police was present, appeared in the system. In light of apparent discrepancies in what occurred over the weekend, University Police Sergeant Ivan Kimball has been analyzing tape recordings of all the phone calls received by University Police from the Relays weekend. Kuprevich said Kimball's characterization of the tapes has been that, "we were very busy, but that everything was handled in accordance to a very busy night." He added, "someone didn't do what someone was supposed to do," explaining why the information did not follow its usual path of documentation. Kuprevich said University Director of Police and Security Patrol Operations George Clisby is questioning the supervisors and dispatchers who worked over the weekend. He added that the supervisors are ultimately responsible for making sure that all procedure is followed. "We started to back up and ask questions," Kuprevich said. Clisby did not return several phone calls placed to his office this week.