'Alcove from danger'

Students are saying they feel safe on campus - but still fear W. Phila. University City is a very different place today than it was just a few years ago. Statistically, at least. Over the past several years, major crime around campus has fallen at dramatic rates, with reports of assault, burglary and other violent crime dipping to virtually non-existent levels. And findings on quality-of-life issues compiled by the University City District seem to confirm the same conclusion -- that the area surrounding Penn's campus is getting progressively safer every day. Yet despite the positive figures, fears still linger. Penn, after all, sits right in the middle of one of the nation's largest urban areas, and frequent instances of crime in the past have only fueled negative perceptions of West Philadelphia. The Daily Pennsylvanian attempted to ascertain Penn students' perceptions of crime earlier this month through a five-day phone survey of 316 randomly selected undergraduates. With the academic year winding down without a single high-profile criminal incident on campus, the survey found that 74 percent of students feel at least somewhat safe, though most students are still hesitant to cross the invisible barrier at 40th Street between Penn and the West Philadelphia neighborhood. The survey -- which has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percent -- asked Penn students how they feel about campus security, the local neighborhood and general safety in University City. While the results show that the fear factor still weighs heavily on the minds of some members of the community, the overwhelming evidence points toward a student body whose perceptions of safety seem to be growing just as steadily as the crime rate plummets into the West Philadelphia ground. · Falling crime is exciting news. It helps admissions officers attract more prospective students to campus, boosts a school's public image and gives a police department a shot of confidence in knowing it's getting the job done. The percent of students who say they feel safe on campus has climbed 5 percent since the last DP safety survey two years ago. "I'm not surprised by the numbers," University Police Chief Maureen Rush said. "Obviously, I would have hoped for 100 percent, but it's definitely an increase in the perception of safety." The survey data further indicates that although students feel somewhat safer on campus, they still display significant apprehensions when it comes to venturing westward beyond 40th Street. Of those polled, nearly half -- 49.6 percent -- said they feel safe walking only as far as 44th Street during daytime hours. And even more dramatically, the majority of students -- 55.1 percent -- said they refuse to venture past 41st Street at the midnight hour, with a hearty 34.5 percent setting their border right at the 40th Street line. Some students said that despite the efforts of University and community leaders, they still perceive great differences in the on- and off-campus environments. "I think that campus is an alcove away from the dangers of West Philly," College sophomore Kyle Rhoades said. "I think West Philadelphia is probably pretty unsafe, though I don't see much of it living here in University City." Despite the high number of students who report feeling safe, Rush and other police officials say that the general perception of crime in University City has yet to reflect how safe the neighborhood really is. "Crime from 1998 through 1999 was down over 33 percent, so in some ways maybe that number [of students feeling safer] should even be a little higher," Rush said. "The change for the good is terrific, but I don't think we're doing a good enough job advertising just how low the crime rate is," University Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Thomas King added. "The stats are good, but they would be better if people understood the real relationship in the decrease in crime." To make the neighborhood more welcoming, many students said the operating hours of walking escorts and Penn shuttles need to be extended, and lighting and security features need to be improved in the campus' outlying areas. Some of those recommendations seem somewhat out of place, though, since the survey also revealed that few Penn students make use of the security resources already at their disposal. The Penn Shuttle Service -- an option designed for both safety and transportation purposes -- was utilized at least once by just 53.5 percent of respondents, while only 8.3 percent of students had ever used a walking escort and less than 1 percent had ever picked up a blue-light telephone. Most students displayed a sense of security when asked about their on- and off-campus surroundings. "I feel very safe here," Engineering freshman Laura Lambert said. "You have to use common sense, I guess. I always see security guards and policemen." "I think it's definitely safe," College freshman Megan Burns added. "I've never felt threatened walking around late at night, and I've never actually witnessed any kind of crime." Confidence in the University Police is running high, as well, as a vast majority of students -- 95 percent -- said they felt at least somewhat confident in the ability of the Penn Police to protect the area. "Having a 94.5 percent confidence rate is a real high measure and our police officers should be happy to hear that their professionalism and dedication to keeping people safe has paid off," Rush said. "The 5 percent who said no may have been people who were victimized, or people who know someone who was victimized or someone in a third category who doesn't trust anything around here," she added. University administrators say that they too feel that the campus environment is growing safer, though they remain concerned about the fragility of the perception of safety that has taken so long to develop. "This is a very safe campus, but I fear what everyone fears -- that at any time there could be an incident or accident that could raise concerns," University President Judith Rodin said. Police officials, though, are confident that the rise in the perception of safety will continue just as long as the crime rate continues to fall. "I think it really takes sometimes a year or two for perceptions to catch up," Rush said. "Our hope is that by continuing to keep the crime statistically down, that eventually the perception will eventually catch up to the reality."