Crime falls with greater Penn Police visibility

The number of crimes reported on campus dropped significantly this year, compared to past years, and reported crime was down in every major category, with the exception of robberies.

2004 experienced a drop of approximately 17 percent in reported crimes from 2003, assuming crime levels for December remain consistent with the rest of the year, according to Penn Police.

Robberies occurred at about the same rate as last year.

Penn Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Bill Danks said that these figures continue a trend of decreasing crime at Penn that extends back into the late 1990s.

"We've changed somewhat the strategy, so there's more of a visible presence" of officers, said Penn Police Chief Mark Dorsey, who credits much of the reduction in crime to this new tactic.

Reported thefts from auto and burglaries -- two crimes that Danks says are especially preventable with increased police visibility -- are down significantly.

In 2003 there were 180 thefts from auto and 64 burglaries reported, whereas this year there have been only 95 thefts from auto and 49 burglaries reported to date.

Robberies, however, have come up in concentrated clusters this year, making them the only major crime category not to see a decrease in reported occurrences.

There have been 55 robberies reported so far this year, a number of which have been by repeat offenders who have since been arrested, according to Danks.

"The clearance rate on that has been very good," he said, saying that police have solved about 25 of the 55 cases.

Van Pelt Library -- which has seen a spat of thefts involving credit cards, wallets and laptops -- has also been a trouble spot for police.

Although Dorsey said that some inroads have been made, police "are putting some officers in there in covert operations to attempt to be able to catch people in the act of doing it."

Dorsey added, though, that the victims of these crimes often make themselves vulnerable by leaving their valuables unattended.

Two people have already been arrested in connection to thefts in Van Pelt, but Danks said that the investigation is ongoing.

Bike thefts are another area that has received attention from police this term.

"We're down significantly from last year, although we're not happy about it because we're still having bikes stolen," Danks said.

There have been 84 bike thefts this year, compared to 136 in 2003.

Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said that Penn Police are working with the facilities department to make bike racks as secure as possible. She said that one option may be to establish a number of "bike depots" in well-lit areas that are covered by surveillance cameras.

"We might just have to get people away from the thought that they have to have a bike rack every five feet around campus,"Rush said.

Overall, Dorsey and Rush said that a major future goal will be to continue to improve relations with both the Penn and West Philadelphia communities.

"We want to be a big part of campus," Dorsey said.

Police have put extra focus on this objective in light of the mistaken apprehension of College sophomore Warith Deen Madyun on Nov. 21 and the ensuing protest against police treatment of minorities that occurred on Dec. 6.

Madyun and a few fellow protesters met with University President Amy Gutmann following the incident.

"The biggest challenge," Gutmann said last week, "is making sure everybody here feels equally respected and safe, and that's always a challenge in a diverse community."

She added, though, that overall she is pleased with the work of the Department of Public Safety and the crime trends on campus.

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