Winter break crime decreases

Continuing a trend of decreasing crime on and around campus last semester and over the last three winter breaks, 24 percent fewer crimes were reported to University Police this winter break than during the same period last year. Just 62 incidents were reported to University Police between December 19 and January 9, compared to 82 reported during the same period from 1996 to 1997. This year's figure represents a four-year low for winter-break crime within the Penn Police jurisdiction, which spans the area between Market Street and Baltimore Avenue and between the Schuylkill River and 43rd Street. The figures mirror statistics obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian for the period from September 1 to November 15, which showed most crimes were down significantly from last year's numbers. The most notable winter-break crime was the murder of a man from Northwest Philadelphia on the morning of December 31. He was shot multiple times in the head, back and legs by an unknown person on the 3400 block of Civic Center Boulevard, police said. Philadelphia police are investigating the homicide. The man was carrying a beeper and had received a page shortly before he was murdered, police said. His girlfriend's five-year-old daughter, who was unharmed, walked into the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to report the incident, police said. Three assaults were reported during the three-week vacation period, compared with two a year earlier. In one incident on December 20, a man was arrested and charged with aggravated assault after punching a University City District safety ambassador and a police officer at 36th and Walnut streets, police said. Richard Lewis, a Dental School employee, was also arrested for aggravated assault after punching a police officer in the face outside the Dental School, police said. Lewis, 39, was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the incident. Robberies, down 26 percent early in the fall semester, also fell during winter break, from six last year to four this year. In a January 3 incident at Abner's Cheesesteaks on the 3800 block of Chestnut Street, an employee was held up at gunpoint and instructed to get into the freezer, according to University Police Det. Commander Tom King. Two men then robbed the store of between $1,200 and $1,500 in cash before fleeing the scene. A Philadelphia Police officer from the 16th District caught one of the men at 41st and Chestnut streets and recovered the money, police said. The man, who had been accidentally shot in the foot by his partner, was arrested. The accomplice remains at large. And a student living on the 4000 block of Baltimore Avenue was robbed inside his house at gunpoint of $45 in cash and a PennCard by a man on December 22, police said. Thefts decreased 28 percent, from 47 incidents last winter break to 29 this year. The most recent incident was Friday's theft of a green 1993 Mercury on the 100 block of South 33rd Street, according to police. Winter break again brought unruly shoplifters to the Gap store on the 3400 block of Walnut Street. Last year, three male suspects attempting to steal shirts assaulted two store employees, according to police. This year, a woman attempting to steal two pairs of jeans from the Gap was caught by a store security guard December 19, police said. The woman pulled a syringe on the guard before being wrestled to the ground. A Philadelphia Police officer came to arrest her, police said.