In an effort to increase residential safety around campus after an armed home invasion and sexual assault on Dec. 19, the Division of Public Safety wants students to get to know their neighbors.
DPS encouraged this community-based crime prevention technique, referred to as "Vertical Town Watch," during a meeting last week with University City landlords.
The meeting was co-hosted by the University City District, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in the area.
"Vertical Town Watch is a number of measures that [landlords] can take to increase public safety within their buildings," said Lewis Wendell, executive director of UCD. "[It] encourages landlords to take precautions for public safety purposes."
The measure aims to encourage familiarity among neighbors in order to "build a community that's vigilant about potential crime," said Seth Budick, UCD project manager. "It's basically establishing a community in a nonstandard community setting, like in a tall apartment building."
According to DPS spokeswoman Stef Cella, residents should not prop open doors or allow strangers to follow them into the building.
They should also not hesitate to report any suspicious individuals to public-safety officers.
Vertical Town Watch "is really just an extension of standard practice in terms of vigilance about your local community," Budick said. "A lot of it is really common sense."
Another measure to increase residential safety is target hardening, or making a residence more secure, according to Cella.
To increase exterior protection, landlords should ensure that doors and windows can lock properly and that apartment buildings have buzzers and intercoms.
For interior protection, hallways should have adequate lighting, and apartment doors should have peepholes.
"Maybe [landlords] have to spend more money on this," Cella said. "[But] our focus is the safety and security of our students, especially if they choose to live off campus."
Public safety representatives from Penn, Drexel University, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and UCD attended the meeting, along with at least 15 representatives of 11 landlords with large holdings in University City.
"The turnout alone speaks to the commitment and interest in the part of the landlords," Budick said.
"They're part of this community, and they have a stake in this community," Cella said.
