U. Police change crime logging system

Will use two books to record incidents A University Police decision to stop recording crimes out of Penn jurisdiction has been reviewed and amended, according to Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush. Three weeks ago, an internal police memo from Rush mandated that officers discontinue logging such crimes. Since then, the system has been reevaluated. Under the most recent arrangement, the book will be divided into two sections -- one covering reports of crimes within the boundaries of the department's patrol area, and one covering reports from outside those boundaries. University Police patrol an area extending from 30th Street in the east to 43rd Street in the west, and from Baltimore Avenue in the south to Market Street in the north. The crime log book, which is updated daily, contains basic information about every crime incident reported to the University Police. Its existence is mandated by law, and it is accessible to any member of the University community. It is also the primary source for the daily Crime Report in The Daily Pennsylvanian. In the memo, Rush ordered officers to "not enter incidents that are beyond our area and control," citing the "already high anxieties of this community" as the main reason for the new policy. At the time, sources within the department criticized the memo because areas such as 44th and Market streets, while technically out of police jurisdiction, are still frequented by many students. "We should be telling it like it is," one officer said at the time. "If crime is up, that's the reality and we'll have to deal with it." On February 16, Managing Director of Public Safety Tom Seamon announced that the department would reevaluate the log book, saying that the "original decision was not carved in stone." At that time, Seamon first mentioned that the department was considering keeping two different logs. According to a source within the department, the new policy is a "good way of resolving the problem."