Groups of juveniles held responsible for three Jan. 23 student assaults at 40th, 41st and 42nd streets have still not been arrested.
In the string of violent events that night, someone unaffiliated with the University was shot at 40th and Market streets, though the Division of Public Safety does not think it is connected to the assaults.
However, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, the shooting was the result of a fight breaking out between juveniles, and resulted in the victim being taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania due to a collapsed lung.
Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush called the circumstances of that night’s events “an aberration” because “a night as cold as Saturday” tends to keep people off the streets, rather than out and roaming.
Though DPS has combated congregations of hundreds of West Philadelphia youth along 40th Street in the past, the events of Jan. 23 did not involve crowds of hundreds but groups of around 15 to 30 middle- and high-school-age juveniles.
Although Rush could not confirm the number of groups on the prowl, she believed there was more than one group, as two of the events occurred too close together in time to have been executed by a single group.
Because the events occurred on the fringes of campus and there was “a delay in reporting of crimes by the victims,” no juveniles were caught. No arrests, therefore, were made.
Although the four recorded events were “sporadic” and occurred within an hour and a half on that night, DPS attributes the swift dispersal of the crowds to “the huge presence of police” that evening. DPS cameras were tracking the crowds as they made their way toward campus.
Many students were disappointed that no UPennAlert was issued. Rush maintained, however, that none of Saturday’s issues “meet the criteria for the issuance of a UPennAlert,” which is meant for “extremely critical issues.” The events of Saturday were swiftly terminated, making an alert superfluous and perhaps dangerous, according to Rush.
However, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia sent an alert to its students at 10:27 p.m. stating that “10 black juveniles assaulted a Drexel student” on the 4200 block of Pine Street.
Rush urged students to understand that DPS does not want to overuse the UPennAlert system “because the day the big event occurs, you won’t pay attention.” However, she said she will take students’ requests for explicit alert guidelines “under advisement.” DPS’ main criteria for the issuance of an alert are “magnitude of the problem and duration.”
Rush pointed out that “there wasn’t always technology but there has always been a tactical response from the police.”
If students are ever confronted with similar circumstances, DPS suggested that they turn to emergency blue-light phones to request assistance from the University Police Department.
