The Penn campus and the rest of Philadelphia have seen an increase in robberies and assaults -- particularly by juveniles and young adults -- over the past several weeks.
Most recently, a Drexel student was robbed at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday night on the 4000 block of Walnut Street. This crime marked the 13th robbery or assault inside the University Police Department's jurisdiction in the past 16 days, according to police records. Although numbers for the same period last year were not immediately available, 98 such incidents occurred in all of 2004.
Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush is confident that several response measures -- along with previously planned initiatives -- can help stem the increase in criminal activity.
This summer, Penn allocated an additional $1 million toward increasing hours for security personnel to patrol the streets. Also this summer, Penn Police implemented a "power shift," Chief of Police Mark Dorsey said, that put more officers on the streets during the night hours when crimes most commonly occur.
Millions of dollars have been spent in recent years to install 74 panoramic tilt-and-zoom surveillance cameras, in addition to more than 200 fixed-position cameras. Overall, Penn spends roughly $23 million each year on security. But despite the best efforts of the police, criminals have continued to prey on the Penn community, which has incensed Rush.
"It's hard to communicate the level of anger that I feel, considering everything we have been doing," Rush said. "We will not rest until this community feels and is safe."
Along those lines, she said, several changes will go into effect immediately. Even more money will go toward overtime for Penn Police officers and more hours for guards employed by subcontractor AlliedBarton Security. No exact figures are available at this time. Dorsey said that security guards will be assigned to smaller, targeted geographic areas.
The Division of Public Safety may also revive Penn Watch, a town-watch program that debuted in the mid-1990s.
The program trains community members to be more alert to crime and report incidents more rapidly to the police.
As crime fell, however, interest waned and the program fell apart. While students would be invited to participate in the program, the effort targets the community's permanent residents.
Rush hopes to get that program up and running again, by providing equipment, like radios, to those involved.
"We will invite merchants to be eyes and ears for the Penn community," Rush said.
She also intends to work with Penn's student government and community organizations to plan meetings in which people can have their concerns addressed by safety personnel.
The division also recently purchased two electric golf carts that will patrol Locust Walk from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Domenic Ceccanecchio, Penn's director of security and technical services, said that the carts -- staffed by AlliedBarton employees -- will increase the visibility of Penn's security force.
Crime buster - Call 898-WALK and 898-RIDE to avoid walking alone - If you feel unsafe, use a blue-light phone immediately - Remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to Penn Police - Program the Penn emergency number into your cell phone: (215) 573-3333. (511 from on-campus phones). This can provide a faster response time than 911. Source: Department of Public Safety
