Police fail to respond to call for help

After a frightening incident last week, some students are upset about what they consider to be inadequate service from University Police. Nancy Stone, a 1994 College graduate said a University Police policy -- which at times can leave only three police officers on the street -- was the reason why no one was responding to an emergency call she placed recently. She said that on July 19 at about 10:42 p.m., one of her nine housemates saw a man reach in the kitchen window, and thought he was on the fire-escape trying to enter the house. Stone said her housemate called University Police immediately, and was told that an officer would come to their home at 39th and Spruce streets right away. But ten minutes later, after having received no response from the University, Stone called back. She said the dispatcher told her to dial 911 for emergency at the Philadelphia Police and that, "the problem is we only have three patrolmen out right now and two are responding to a robber and no one can come." Although Philadelphia Police responded to the call immediately, Stone said she is angry about the University Police lack of response. University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich explained that when University Police goes into its shift change, the old shift returns to the station to check in their radios, while the new shift comes in to pick up their radios and stand roll-call. In this "changing of the guard" period, University Police keep what are called the "early out shift" on the street -- which is usually comprised of three to four officers -- University Police Chief George Clisby said. Kuprevich said maintaining coverage during shift changes is a problem that faces all departments. However, he added that University Police changes shifts one hour before Philadelphia Police do, so that there should always be some coverage in the area. But Stone -- who also said she had to deal with an "obnoxious" dispatcher throughout her ordeal -- said this setup is not sensitive to students' needs. "We talked to [an officer] about the fact that the [dispatcher] was obnoxious on the phone," Stone said. "I'd say we got inadequate response from Penn Police -- there were ten of us scared in the house and the police just rolled up [after the Philadelphia Police's arrival to the scene] like they were going into Billy Bob's." Kuprevich said that although it is too early for him to comment on the incident, he does not understand why no officer was pulled from role-call to check out what should be listed as a crime in progress. "If someone calls and says there's someone breaking in their house, that's a priority, and there should be a response," he said. Kuprevich added that Clisby would listen to the tape recording of the telephone calls to University Police to ascertain what occurred. But Stone is still unsatisfied and wonders what would have happened if there were another serious incident occurring during role-call besides her incident and the robbery -- or even if the man at her fire escape had gotten into her house. "I hope for the benefit of the Penn community, some change in the system can be made," she said. "Next time the incident could be worse."