Police plan for Relays weekend

Penn and Philadelphia police came out in full force for last year's Penn Relays, which saw little crime. Penn Relays has quite a track record in University City. For years, the three-day track and field competition that is expected to draw 18,000 athletes and 90,000 spectators from around the world was associated with standstill traffic, increased crime and massive amounts of trash. But with an increased force of visiting Philadelphia Police Department officers on call to help University Police curb traffic and crime and University cleaning crews working to keep sidewalks litter-free, last year's Relays were relatively incident-free -- even with a record 90,000 people in attendance. That's why when University Police started planning for this year's Relays, they decided not to make any changes. So in preparation for this weekend's 105th Penn Relay Carnival, police are dusting off last year's detail sheet, prescribing about the same number of officers for this year as they said had proven effective in 1998. Just like last year, all University Police officers will work extended 12-hour shifts in addition to the cancellation of all Penn Police regular day-off schedules for the Relays weekend, University Police Chief Maureen Rush said. It will be the second weekend in a row that police officers have the chance to rack up lots of overtime pay, as the department implemented similar measures for Spring Fling. Police officials have also contracted to have about 20 Philadelphia Police officers on hand for Friday night and 50 officers for Saturday, which is "the big night" in terms of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, according to Rush. Yellow-jacketed University City District safety ambassadors and "a large contingency" of SpectaGuard security guards will also assist over the weekend, Rush said. The Philadelphia Police Traffic Division, which has "historically" been part of the event, will also be on campus during the weekend, Rush added. "We wanted to eradicate the merry-go-round condition where people would continually ride around the blocks around campus," Rush said, referring to the "considerable gridlock problem" that used to plague the Relays. "Last year, with Philadelphia Police and Penn Police working in conjunction together, was the most successful ever" in terms of Penn Relays traffic conditions, Rush said. In fact, the streets were "almost as normal as any other Saturday night by about 9:15 p.m." -- a far cry from the traffic jams each more than an hour long experienced in previous years. Rush said this weekend's event is different than last week's Spring Fling because so many people are coming from outside of campus by car and bus. "You have tons of pedestrians and tons of vehicles [in a] very closed area with lots of construction," Rush said. "Our job is to look at all the risks that are associated with hosting this kind of event and minimize that risk." During last year's Relays, there were only 10 thefts, one burglary and a simple assault over the Thursday night to Sunday morning period. In 1997, the event was marred by more serious crimes, including a carjacking and five robberies. There was also a riot in the Wawa at 38th and Spruce streets in 1997. About 60 people threw glass bottles and food across the store on the Sunday of Relays.