Crime rates drop over the summer

Despite increased traffic due to the Republican National Convention, Penn Police had a fairly quiet summer -- except for soaring rates of thefts from vehicles. There were 65 reported thefts from cars this summer, up a whopping 160 percent from the summer of 1999, which saw only 25. University Police Chief Maureen Rush attributed the jump to Philadelphia Police officers pushing perpetrators -- many of whom were homeless -- out of Center City and further west, toward Penn's campus. Rush also said that reducing theft from cars is "a frontier that still needs a lot of work." She said UPPD has implemented a program in which officers place "theft awareness" flyers on the windshields of parked cars in which drivers have left valuables. Besides theft from autos, the only other increase from last summer was in retail theft, which rose 21 percent. One of the 41 reported retail thefts was from the Radio Shack on 212 S. 40th Street on August 12. Three men, two of whom were armed, took $1,500 in cash from the store. No one was injured during the incident. Most other types of crimes were down from last summer, which Rush attributed to increased numbers of police officers, security guards and Spectaguards on campus. Aggravated assault was down as well, with three reported cases this summer, compared with four last summer. In one of the cases, a woman reported that a man unaffiliated with the University banged her head against a window repeatedly on June 3. The suspect was arrested. Robberies were down from 21 in 1999 to 16 this summer, while burglaries dropped from 37 to 29. On August 12, however, two male University students reported that their house at 3924 Spruce Street was burglarized. The door was unlocked and there were no signs of forced entry. A television, a VCR, four boxes of textbooks -- valued at about $2,000 -- and $30 in cash were taken. Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the burglary. Auto theft was also down significantly, dropping from 17 reported cases last year to only seven this year. Theft from buildings was down as well, although only by three cases. Rush attributed this drop to UPPD officers encouraging building administrators to be more vigilant in reporting suspicious persons or activity