Arresting times for students

Students brought into custody should not expect special treatment. Kept in jail overnight and separated from their friends, many of those arrested on and around campus by University Police may wish they had thought twice before committing an offense. And that's before they're even charged. Because current University Police headquarters on Locust Walk -- as well as their new building at 4040 Chestnut Street -- contain no holding cells, anyone arrested by the force is brought to the Philadelphia Police Department's 18th District Police Headquarters at 55th and Pine streets for questioning and processing. However, as a result of the large numbers of people passing through the facility and the mountains of paperwork produced by each arrest, suspects are often forced to wait in jail for more than a day for their initial arraignment by closed-circuit TV from jail. During an arraignment, the judge decides whether to allow a case to proceed. While being held, suspects who are arrested together are often separated into different cells and placed with other accused offenders. For students expecting leniency, such treatment can be a rude awakening. One of the eight students arrested in the past year, who requested anonymity, stressed that his offense would have been "dealt with less difficulty if the incident had remained within the University Police." The student added that he "felt that the University Police really wanted to wash their hands of my friends and [me], turning us over to the Philadelphia Police as quickly as possible." Managing Director of Public Safety Tom Seamon stressed that arrested students should not expect special accommodations from University officers on the basis of their student status. "Our purpose here is to protect the entire University," he said. "There can be no distinctions made. We don't want to arrest students, [but] we expect the students to act as responsible citizens." And while "very few students [usually] get arrested," this semester has seen an upsurge of student misconduct, much of it alcohol-related, according to Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush. This semester, for example, several students have been arrested for their involvement in a series of bloody assaults which injured several police officers, as well as other students. "Almost always when a student is arrested, alcohol abuse is at the root of it," Seamon added. The majority of student offenses are relatively minor, however, and rarely require jail time or a formal arraignment, Seamon added. Students accused of disorderly conduct, for example, typically receive summary citations requiring fines in lieu of a court date, he added. Such citations can be issued anywhere, and don't require suspects to make the trip to a police facility. Instead, they are given a copy of their citation and a date to appear before a municipal judge, usually within 10 to 30 days after the arrest. But for those accused of more serious misdemeanors and felonies, it's a trip uptown. After the arresting officer files preliminary reports with the assigned detective from the city police's Southwest Detectives bureau, University Police's further involvement with a case varies based on how busy the Philadelphia units are. The two departments have a "good working relationship [with] a nice meshing," Rush said, adding that University Police handled most of the investigation into last year's off-campus shooting of then-College senior Patrick Leroy. In addition to any criminal sanctions, Penn students arrested or cited for minor offenses often face punishment within the University's internal judicial system. Although the Office of Student Conduct does not receive reports from the Philadelphia Police, OSC Director Michele Goldfarb receives daily updates from University Police identifying when students are arrested. Goldfarb's office investigates reports of student violations of Penn's Code of Student Conduct from both University Police and other members of the University community, and has the power to issue punishments up to and including expulsion. "We have a unique relationship with the Division of Public Safety? [and] a good relationship with the University Police," she said. "They understand what we do here."