Penn Watch begins patrols around campus

and Keith Huebsch More than five months of planning culminated last night when Wharton sophomore and Penn Watch President Jon Brightbill said, "Penn Watch Three to Walking Escort Service Representative -- how do you read me?" "Loud and clear," the Walking Escort Service Representative responded. Penn Watch, a student-run town watch and peer education group, began patrolling on and around campus with two security teams yesterday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Even after weeks of training, the two-person patrols were anxious about what lay ahead on the streets of West Philadelphia. "I probably won't be real comfortable at 40th and Market," Wharton sophomore and Penn Watch member Doug Martin said. "I'm not really even comfortable out there during the day." After reaching that intersection, Martin -- armed only with a police scanner, a two-way radio and a flashlight -- said with student patrols on the streets it is the criminals who should be wary. "I think if someone was about to break into a car and saw two guys with a police scanner, they'd think twice about it," he said. Clad in blue windbreakers with "Town Watch" emblazoned in yellow lettering, Martin and his partner, Wharton sophomore Justin Faust, saw their first action in front of the McDonald's Restaurant at 40th and Walnut streets. The incident lacked the excitement of a major crime or bust, however. A homeless man outside the McDonald's on Walnut Street asked them to be on the lookout for a "rat the size of a Siamese cat.". Faust and Martin just shrugged it off and proceeded along their route north to Market Street. By the end of the evening, a still-energetic Brightbill said he was "satisfied, proud and elated" with Penn Watch's first night on the street. He added that although only two teams patrolled last night, on most nights there will be three teams walking Sunday through Thursday. The three sectors run on and around campus and are divided into the "North," "South," and "West" sectors. They are intended to cover the areas with the most student traffic.