Snow helps keep crime down

Tuesday's massive snowstorm brought with it traffic tie-ups, school cancellations and snowball fights from one end of Philadelphia to the other. But for the officers of the University Police Department, the snow might as well have brought with it just a badge and a gun. The weather, which ravaged the city and much of the East Coast, did little to disrupt the operations of the University Police or any major campus facilities, University Police officials said yesterday. According to University Police Chief Maureen Rush, the weather may have even lent a hand to police during the relatively crime-free day, which saw only one reported theft. "The best cop in the world is snow," Rush said. "We had virtually zero crime and very few incident reports all day long." While classes and most non-essential University offices were closed on Tuesday due to the inclement weather, the police stayed open for business, though some operation procedures had to be changed due to the stormy weather. "Our motorcycles, bicycles and patrol vehicles are grounded," Rush said, referring to conditions on both Tuesday and yesterday. "The only vehicles that we've had out there are our four-wheel-drives." Rush said the bikes, motorcycles and patrol cars would likely be back on the streets today. In addition, she added that more foot patrol officers were on-duty both of the days, making additional rounds of campus buildings to check on the die-hard University employees and students who chose to spend their day off hard at work. And while most University employees spent their Tuesday far away from Penn's campus, Rush said police attendance was indeed the exception to the rule. "We had 100 percent attendance. People got in and all our shifts were fully staffed," she said. "We did have to put some specific staff members up in the Sheraton -- specifically, our PennComm dispatch personnel -- to make sure that all of our essential people would be in place [on Wednesday]." Rush added that the most significant snow-related dilemma wasn't caused by Mother Nature. "The biggest problem we actually had was congestion over the phone lines," she said, referring to the swarm of calls Public Safety received regarding the possibility of a second day of class cancellations.