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(11/29/00 10:00am)
Gimbel Gym was burglarized last Friday in what police believe may have been an inside job.
According to Penn Police, the suspects took a laptop computer and about 50 paychecks from the recreation business manager's office, located inside the gymnasium at 37th and Walnut streets.
University Police detectives said they believe the perpetrators may be Gimbel employees.
According to Det. Leslie Hand, the suspects allegedly gained entrance by smashing a window and climbing into the office.
Hand said she spoke to a Gimbel employee who claimed to have heard a colleague making plans last Wednesday to burglarize the gym when it closed for Thanksgiving break.
Police were alerted to the incident when they received an anonymous call made from a blue-light phone reporting the broken window in Gimbel at 4:11 p.m. on Friday.
A little after 7 p.m., police were still collecting evidence at the gym when they received a phone call from an employee of a check-cashing agency on 62nd Street and Woodland Avenue.
"There was an individual out in West Philadelphia trying to cash the checks," Det. Supervisor William Danks said. "Someone was cashing the checks almost before we knew there had been a burglary."
The check-cashing agency employee had called Gimbel to verify the information of 30-year-old Roy Lee Weatherbe, who was in the agency attempting to cash the stolen checks.
While University Police were investigating the crime scene, they happened to answer the check-cashing agency employee's call. They sent two officers to question Weatherbe.
The agency employee had become suspicious after noticing that none of the checks were made out to Weatherbe.
Weatherbe -- who is not affiliated with the University -- admitted to knowing one of three Gimbel employees suspected of committing the burglary. Police are currently seeking a warrant for Weatherbe's arrest.
Penn Police are also in the process of questioning the three employees, whose names were not released. But Hand said that gathering enough evidence to arrest the suspects might be difficult.
"We can't arrest them unless Weatherbe gives up some information when he's arrested or we find physical evidence at the scene," Hand said.
Gimbel has surveillance cameras, but not in the office where the break-in occurred. Since there is no videotape of the crime, the main physical evidence would have to come from fingerprints.
Recreation Business Manager Stephanie Knox declined to comment and Michael Diorka, director of the Recreation Sports Program and Service, did not return repeated phone calls.
(11/28/00 10:00am)
It was the coldest winter Philadelphia had seen in years, and a 22-year-old Philadelphia Police officer named Maureen Rush was patrolling North Philadelphia on foot.
The year was 1976, and female police officers were not allowed to ride in patrol cars with their male counterparts -- leaving many female officers stuck walking, even when the temperature started to plummet.
"When the police horses and dogs were taken in and I was still walking the beat, I didn't feel so good," Rush recalled.
(11/22/00 10:00am)
The sign outside Cavanaugh's restaurant which reads "Fine Food and Spirits" is wrong -- at least for the week.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board suspended the popular eatery and bar's liquor license from last Monday through this Sunday as a result of several violations of state law in 1999.
According to Liquor Control Board spokeswoman Molly McGowan, Cav's -- located at 117 S. 39th Street -- was cited on separate occasions for possessing "fortified, adulterated or contaminated liquor," unlawfully possessing liquor purchased from a source other than a Pennsylvania state liquor store and refilling liquor bottles.
The restaurant was also fined $1,500.
The punishments were determined during a hearing held in August.
The manager of Cav's was not available for comment last night.
(11/22/00 10:00am)
The newly-relocated Paper Garden card store received an unfortunate "welcome" to the neighborhood this week.
The store, located at 3402 Sansom Street, was robbed at gunpoint at 3:10 p.m. on Monday.
A female employee reported that a man entered the store, pulled out a gun, reached over the counter and removed money from the register. He got away with $300 in cash.
The employee described the suspect as a black man with a medium complexion, 6'1" and 160 lbs. At the time of the incident, he was wearing dark-colored pants, a navy blue knit cap and a three-quarter length black leather jacket.
The Paper Garden incident is the latest in a string of recent robberies, many of which involved individual victims rather than stores.
The store, formerly known as University of Cards, is also the fourth victim of an on-campus retail robbery this semester.
Baskin Robbins and Commerce Bank were robbed in separate incidents last month -- with $200 and $700 taken respectively.
Fingers, Wings and Other Things was also the victim of an attempted armed robbery in September.
Penn Det. Supervisor Frank DeMeo said yesterday that he does not believe this incident is related to any of the other robberies.
DeMeo said the recent spike in robberies is most likely due to the approaching holiday season.
"People are looking for money or merchandise for the holidays," he said. "There's always an upswing in retail theft and an upswing in robberies."
(11/17/00 10:00am)
When Penn Police Officer Pat Chad walked into roll call on August 6 -- the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing -- several years ago, the tables were lined with mushrooms.
"Pat, doesn't that remind you of your family?" one of the Japanese American's fellow officers asked, referring to the mushroom clouds produced upon the explosion of an atomic bomb.
After roll call, Chad, who left the department earlier this year, complained about the incident to his sergeant.
"I told the sergeant I didn't appreciate it, and I didn't think it was funny," Chad said.
But the sergeant, Chad says, told him that it was not a big deal and to "get over it."
"That's just the way it is at Penn Police," Chad said. "You just took it and went along."
(11/17/00 10:00am)
Kristen Buppert was elected the new president of the Panhellenic Council, which oversees Penn's seven sororities, Wednesday night.
Buppert, a College junior and Alpha Chi Omega sister, will officially replace current president and College senior Jennifer Chanowitz, a Sigma Delta Tau sister, in February.
Buppert said yesterday that she wants to increase cooperation between Panhel's houses and between Panhel and the other two Greek umbrella groups, the InterFraternity Council and the Bicultural InterGreek Council.
"My main goal is to have more cohesion between individual houses so that it's more of a system, rather than just seven separate houses," said Buppert, a native of Santa Barbara, Calif. "You can have pride in your house, but I hope we can evolve to have pride in the system as a whole."
Also on the new board is Executive Vice President Carrie Reilly, an Alpha Phi sister and Wharton junior. The new co-Vice President for Recruitment is Kristin Moon, a Chi Omega sister and College junior, and the new co-Vice President for Recruitment is Sara Immerman, a Sigma Delta Tau sister and College sophomore.
Other new members include Vice President for Publicity Ann Goldenberg, a Sigma Delta Tau sister and College sophomore, and Vice President for Judicial Affairs Carine Ildebrando, a Phi Sigma Sigma sister and Wharton junior.
Elected as treasurer was Chi Omega sister Jessica Hilken, who is the marketing manager for The Daily Pennsylvanian. Leslie Drogin, a Delta Delta Delta sister and College junior, is the new secretary.
Both Buppert and Moon served on this year's board -- Buppert was vice president of judicial affairs and Moon was assistant vice president of rush.
This year, the term "rush" has been replaced by "recruitment," reflecting a national change in Greek jargon.
Chanowitz said she was pleased with the new board.
"The board has experience on it," she said. "Kristen Buppert is incredibly qualified for the position.... We've been trying to change Panhel for the better and I think the new board will continue in that tradition."
And Buppert said she intends to work out goals for Panhel as a board.
"It's really important to me that's it's not just me" running Panhel, she said.
The new board will be inducted in February, following the end of the recruitment period.
(11/17/00 10:00am)
A female Drexel University student was robbed on the 3100 block of Walnut Street Wednesday night, the third incident at that location in as many days.
Police believe the second incident -- an attempted robbery Tuesday night -- and third incident may have been the work of one man, but the first robbery was likely committed by a different person.
"It strikes me that the first one, although the time element is the same, and the location is basically the same, is probably not [committed by] the same person who did the second and third," Penn Det. Supervisor William Danks said.
In Wednesday's robbery, the Drexel student reported that she was approached by a man at about 10:15 p.m. as she was descending the stairs behind the Left Bank construction project.
The man pushed her against a wall, pressed something that she said felt like a gun into her back and demanded her backpack. She handed him the backpack, and he fled west on Walnut Street in a blue sedan driven by a woman.
The backpack contained a cellular phone, several books and assorted change. The value of the items was unknown.
The Drexel student, who was not injured in the incident, described the man as an African-American male around 30 years of age, wearing a dark-colored jacket.
The male Penn student who was the victim of an attempted robbery on the 3100 block of Walnut Street Tuesday night described his assailant as an African-American male around 30 years old and wearing a dark-colored coat, as well. The student also said the man was around 5'10" and between 140 and 160 pounds, with a pointy face and a small chin.
According to Danks, Wednesday night's robbery occurred right under the nose of the Penn Police.
As a result of the robbery Monday -- in which two men robbed a male University employee, taking $185 in cash -- and the attempted robbery Tuesday, uniformed and plainclothes police were stationed on one side of the Left Bank building. However, Wednesday's robbery took place on the opposite side.
Danks said Penn Police are "working pretty hard" on catching the robber. The Amtrak, SEPTA and Philadelphia Police Departments have also been informed of the situation.
In the meantime, Danks advised students to avoid walking alone in sparsely populated locations after dark.
"My only advice is use some common sense in where you're walking late at night," he said.
(11/16/00 10:00am)
A 29-year-old Penn mail carrier was killed last Friday night in North Philadelphia, just steps from his wife's beauty salon.
Chad Alexander had just come from visiting his wife, Crystal, at her salon on 30th and York streets when he was shot in the back and torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to his aunt, Patrice Hammond, Alexander died in the arms of his pregnant wife, who rushed outside when she heard the gunshots.
"He told her he loved her, fluttered his eyes a little bit and then he closed them," Hammond said.
Alexander apparently saw the shooter firing at another man and told him to stop, at which point the shooter turned on Alexander.
"He just died helping other people," Hammond said. "If he hadn't said anything, if he had just minded his business, he wouldn't have gotten shot."
Det. George Pirrone of the Philadelphia Police Department's Homicide Division said that 21-year-old William Betheh, who family members say was the man Alexander was trying to save, was also killed during the incident. Betheh died from his injuries yesterday in MCP Hahnemann Hospital.
Philadelphia Homicide is currently investigating the murders, and did not have any information about possible suspects available last night. Whether Alexander or Betheh knew the shooter is also still under investigation.
There are conflicting reports of the relationship between Alexander and Betheh.
According to Damone Clayter, one of Alexander's supervisors in the mail room, Alexander and the second victim were cousins.
Pirrone said the men were friends and that the motive for the shooting was still unknown.
However, another one of the victim's aunts, Patricia Coleman-Brown, who works in Student Financial Services as the manager of student accounts, said the two men did not know each other at all.
Alexander began working at the University in 1996 in the mailroom of Student Financial Services. A little over a year ago, he was transferred to Mail Services.
"Chad was a very low-key, very soft-spoken man," said Phil Falcone, a Mail Services supervisor. "He always had a quick smile, a good word for everyone."
Mail Services Manager Janet Weatherill said Alexander would come into work every morning with a copy of the Philadelphia Daily News, a Tastykake and a Pepsi. After he died, his colleagues bought the snacks and the newspaper and placed them in a mail tub as a memorial.
According to Coleman-Brown, Alexander's wife is two months pregnant.
"He always wanted children because [his wife] was pregnant three times before and lost them," Coleman-Brown said.
Coleman-Brown also said Alexander would frequently return to North Philadelphia, where he grew up, and help out his former neighbors by shoveling their walkways in the winter. In one case, he even paid the rent of a woman who was struggling to make ends meet.
"He would give back to the people who helped him when he was growing up," Coleman-Brown said.
Alexander is survived by his wife, parents and two brothers.
(11/09/00 10:00am)
Penn Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Thomas King yesterday announced his intention to leave the department, becoming the third top Public Safety official to depart since the beginning of the semester.
King, 44, will leave at the end of this month to become the director of safety and security at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa., which is the top position in Haverford's police force.
"What I enjoy doing best is interacting with students and staff and the faculty, and I think I'll have more of an opportunity to do that at a smaller school," King said.
King came to the force in 1997, after serving with the Philadelphia Police for 20 years -- 10 of which as a detective. At Penn he directed criminal investigations and victim services, and oversaw crime prevention presentations, internal investigations and background checks.
Security Services Director Stratis Skoufalos and Vice President for Public Safety Thomas Seamon also left the Division of Public Safety this semester.
Skoufalos left the division in September when his department was dissolved. He had led the Security Services Department for almost three years.
Seamon, who was Public Safety's top official, departed last month after five years at the helm of the division to become CEO of TrainLogic, Inc., a security training and consulting firm.
King said he was excited about his new position at Haverford but reluctant to leave Penn.
"This place is so invigorating," King said. "I love the pace... but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to have a little hands-on experience."
Det. Supervisor William Danks will serve as acting deputy chief until a search committee selects King's permanent replacement.
"I think it's a nice honor they've selected me for this position," Danks said. "I'm apprehensive because there's a lot to learn and a lot of things to do, but I think it'll work out."
King said he does not believe his departure, compounded with the departures of Skoufalos and Seamon, will affect the stability of the department.
"I think one of the things that came from the top -- it was always [Executive Vice President] John Fry's mantra and Tom Seamon's and [Police Chief] Maureen Rush's -- is that there's a sort of succession planning," King said. "People are familiar with the duties and responsibilities of others' jobs."
And Police Chief Maureen Rush -- who is now serving as the acting head of Public Safety -- said that due to such cross-training, Danks is highly qualified for the interim position.
"The continuity is there," Rush said. "It's a not a major issue to rush [the search process].... We can take our time. We have good people in place."
Special Services Director Pat Brennan, who worked under King as a detective supervisor for three years, said she is sorry to see King go but confident that Danks will be effective as interim deputy chief.
"It's very sad for me and it's very sad for the Penn community," Brennan said. "It's very fortunate for the Haverford community."
(10/31/00 10:00am)
Two on-campus robberies of University students, both committed Sunday, may have been the work of a single man, Penn Deputy Chief of Investigations Thomas King said yesterday.
The two incidents occurred relatively close together in time and location, and the students' descriptions of the suspect were very similar, according to Penn Det. Supervisor William Danks. Neither involved a weapon and neither victim, both females, was physically injured.
Danks also said that the methods used in the two robberies were "very close, almost identical."
"We think they're quite possibly connected," King said.
Both victims described the robber as a black man in his 30s who was about 5'8" tall.
The first incident occurred at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, when a female University student was walking on the 3400 block of Walnut Street. The student reported that she was approached by a man who asked her for money.
When she refused and began to walk away, the man grabbed her purse, removed her wallet, took $60 in cash and returned the wallet.
The second incident occurred at about 6:10 p.m. the same day, when a female University student was walking on the 3600 block of Hamilton Walk, behind the Quadrangle. The student reported that she, too, was approached by a man who asked her for money.
When the student refused, the man pulled her backpack off her shoulder and fled. The backpack contained a PennCard, a credit card, a driver's license, two items of clothing, a purse and $15 in cash.
In the first incident, the student reported that the man who took her money was clean-shaven. The student involved in the second robbery said the man who grabbed her backpack had some light stubble on his chin.
King said chances are good the police will make an arrest in the two cases.
"I'm actually cautiously optimistic about clearing these two," he said.
Sunday's two incidents were the fourth and fifth non-retail robberies this semester. The other three robberies were in early September. All occurred just off campus, and one took place at gunpoint.
There were also two retail robberies this month. Baskin Robbins at 3925 Walnut Street and Commerce Bank at 3731 Walnut Street were both robbed October 21 during the day.
The two incidents did not appear to be connected, since the descriptions of the suspects were very different.
Penn Police are still investigating the Baskin Robbins robbery, but the FBI is handling the bank robbery.
(10/23/00 9:00am)
Two Walnut Street businesses were robbed this weekend in broad daylight, according to the University Police.
Commerce Bank at 3731 Walnut Street and Baskin Robbins at 3925 Walnut Street were both robbed -- by two different men -- on Saturday.
The two incidents were the first retail robberies on campus this semester.
In the Commerce Bank robbery, the bank's manager reported that a man, simulating holding a gun, demanded money at about 11:30 a.m. The man got away with $700 in cash and fled on foot.
The manager described the suspect as a white man in his 40s, 5'6" tall and weighing about 160 lbs. The man had a mustache and dirty blond hair, and he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and green pants. The manager also reported that the suspect had a bloody nose and lip.
Later that day, a black man wearing a white smock and black-and-white checkered pants entered Baskin Robbins at about 1:45 p.m. The man handed the owner a note that read "give me all your money" and then forced the owner to lie down on the floor. The suspect got away with $200 in cash.
Although the incidents were the first two retail robberies this semester, there was an armed attempted robbery at Fingers Wings and Other Things at 208 South 40th Street in September. The robbery was foiled by a FWOT employee, who managed to convince the robbers to let her call the manager. The manager then called the police and three arrests were made.
There were also three non-retail robberies in early September, all of which were nighttime crimes. All took place just off campus, and one was at gunpoint.
Commerce Bank was also the victim of a robbery in July 1999 when a suspect entered the bank in the afternoon and presented a teller with a note demanding "big bills." He got away with about $3,000 in cash.
(10/19/00 9:00am)
With less than two weeks to go before Vice President for Public Safety Thomas Seamon officially steps down, speculation about who will fill his shoes seems to be pointing heavily in one direction.
Although officials have said they will conduct a national search, many in the division say University Police Chief Maureen Rush seems to be the most likely candidate.
Rush, who has served as police chief since 1996 and is the only internal candidate, will run Public Safety on an interim basis after Seamon officially steps down at the end of the month. During her seven years at Penn, she has also led the Special Services Department.
The head of Public Safety oversees the division's three departments -- Special Services, Fire and Occupational Safety and the Penn Police force -- and coordinates the activities of security service contractors.
Many members of the division spoke highly of Rush, saying they think her experience -- she started working for the Philadelphia Police Department in 1974 -- would make her a good candidate. Others, however criticized her for being overbearing.
Seamon himself, who was unable to be reached for comment last night, said last week that Rush has been instrumental in the improvement of the division over the past five years.
"Maureen has been my right hand person.... We finish each other's sentences, that's how close we are," Seamon said.
And Special Services Director Patricia Brennan said she thought Rush would be a good selection because she has headed up both Special Services and the police force.
"She's a very brilliant woman," Brennan said. "She would be a wonderful successor to Tom Seamon. She sees the whole picture because she's done it all."
Others, however, expressed doubt about Rush's possible appointment.
"I'm not a big fan of hers," said one member of the department, who asked that his name not be used. "I really liked [Seamon]. I liked his style a lot better than her style.... Some people think she's abrasive."
Another employee of the department acknowledged that some staff members are ambivalent about Rush's management style.
"I know that there are certain people who took Tom's laid-back style as not being as attentive," the employee said. "By the same token, some may see Maureen's style as being a bit much."
The employee said he sees Rush's management technique as hands-on, rather than abrasive.
Other UPPD insiders felt that Rush's aggressive management style would be an asset for Public Safety.
"I think she'll be great [as interim vice president]," Community Relations Officer Stacy Livingston said. "She's a very strong personality. She'll see something and she goes to get it done.... Should [the position] be offered to her and should she accept it, it would be a fine thing."
Deputy Chief of Investigations Tom King said that he feels an internal candidate would be the best choice.
"The person that would come in from the outside would have to possess incredible abilities to marinate themselves in the culture of the department," King said. "It's borderline prohibitive."
But Executive Vice President John Fry disagreed, saying that "a good, smart leader will be able to find his or her way around."
While Rush said she is "very much interested in the position," she also said she has the best interests of Public Safety at heart.
"I want the best for the division and the best for the University," Rush said. "Should that person be me, fine, but we can't get into egos there."
If Rush gets the job, she will be the highest ranking openly gay official at the University. She said she does not feel her sexuality has made any difference in her career, either positively or negatively.
"It's never been an issue for me either way," Rush said.
Seamon is leaving his post to become the CEO of TrainLogic, Inc., a Pennsylvania security training and consulting firm.
Fry said he hopes to hire a replacement by winter break.
The screening committee to choose Seamon's replacement will consist of Fry, Associate Provost Barbara Lowery, Vice President for Business Services Leroy Nunery, Vice President for Human Resources John Heuer and former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Tucker.
After the committee reviews all applications for the job, the applicants will go before the University Council Committee on Safety, the tri-chairs of the Faculty Senate and the University Committee on Public Safety.
At that point, the remaining applicants will meet with University President Judith Rodin and James Riepe, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
(10/17/00 9:00am)
A former officer of the University Police has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that he was fired because of his ethnicity and because he protested racial discrimination.
Ken Yuen, who is Chinese American, was dismissed at the end of September. He also filed the complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission two weeks ago. It is necessary to file a complaint with the EEOC before a federal lawsuit for workplace discrimination can be filed.
According to Yuen, who worked for the UPPD for more than three years, he was told his dismissal was a result of his police radio being off for 20 minutes while he was on duty.
Yuen said he does not believe he was fired because his radio was off, since he claims that other officers have not been fired when their radios were off for longer than 20 minutes. He also said he turned his radio off "accidentally."
"Other officers have been found asleep when their radios [were] off," Yuen said.
University Police Chief Maureen Rush declined to comment on Yuen's complaint, saying only that he was "fired for cause."
Yuen, a 1986 College graduate, claims his dismissal was a result of management hostility toward him after he filed two complaints against his supervisors with the University Affirmative Action Office last spring.
In the complaints, Yuen alleged that his supervisors made inappropriate racial comments. He also claimed a supervisor made an ethnic joke about the Korean man who used to clean the UPPD's uniforms. The supervisor declined to comment on the allegations last night.
Yuen also said another Penn Police officer told a South Asian student to "get the hell out of the country" in the spring of 1999.
According to Yuen, the Affirmative Action Office did not find evidence of ethnic discrimination.
"I don't really believe they did a good investigation," he said, calling the office a "toothless tiger."
Office of Affirmative Action Executive Director Valerie Hayes declined to comment on Yuen's complaints.
Yuen claims he was also wrongly disciplined last January after he was a passenger in a police car involved in an accident. He said he was issued a written warning for "allegedly allowing a junior officer to participate in a prohibited vehicle pursuit," according to his written complaint to the EEOC.
And last March, Yuen was suspended for insubordination, a charge he claims was invalid. Yuen said his supervisor alleged that he "took no action at the scene [of a car accident], which is a total lie."
Yuen claims the supervisor told him to "shut the fuck up." Yuen said he responded harshly to the supervisor, but did not use profanity.
Yuen also alleges he has been disciplined more harshly than other University police officers. He claims that one female officer was arrested at her home for disorderly conduct, but that she was not disciplined by the UPPD.
(10/04/00 9:00am)
University Police arrested two men early Saturday morning after an attempted armed robbery of a popular fast-food establishment near the corner of 40th and Walnut streets.
The robbers -- one armed with a gun, the other with a knife -- entered Fingers, Wings and Other Things at 208 S. 40th Street through the back door at about 1 a.m.
After some quick thinking by one FWOT employee, police arrived on the scene, arresting 18-year-old Ernest Chamberlin and his juvenile partner, whose name was not released. The next day, police also arrested a juvenile employee of the restaurant, who allegedly left the back door open so the robbers could enter.
No one was injured during the robbery.
When the two robbers entered FWOT at about 12:55 a.m., employee Cherlisa Farmer did not think it was a real robbery.
"It was more of a shock," Farmer said yesterday. "I started laughing at them. I think I scared them more than they scared me."
The suspects then forced four employees and one customer to lie on the floor of the storeroom and demanded the keys to the restaurant's safe. They even duct-taped another employee to the floor.
Farmer, who took a training course on dealing with deadly weapons for her former job as a security guard, told the other employees not to talk at all.
"I just tried to be as cool as possible," she said. "[The duct-taped employee] knew I had it under control when I said, ODon't say nothing.'"
As night manager, Farmer had the keys on a chain around her neck, but she did not want the robbers to know that. While on the floor, she slipped the keys into her bra and told the two suspects that only the manager could open the safe.
FWOT Manager Oliver Matthews was not on duty that day, but Farmer told the robbers that he was just down the street moving his car. She convinced them to let her call Matthews on his cellular phone.
"I said, OCan I just call the manager, and he can come in here and you can get what you want and get out?'" Farmer said.
Farmer then called Matthews, who was home watching television, and asked him where he was and if he had the keys.
Matthews realized something was wrong, because an employee would never have to open the safe.
"She just said some things to me that she never said before," Matthews said. "I whispered, OAre you being robbed?' and she said yes."
Matthews then called the police and three University Police officers showed up minutes later.
Officers Don Tolomeo and Dennis Daley chased the two robbers out the back door and apprehended them. The officers recovered a .25-caliber semi-automatic gun, a 12-inch knife and two ski masks.
The two suspects were charged with robbery and possession of instruments of crime.
The officers also took a male employee into custody for questioning after noticing him acting suspicious. He was arrested Sunday and charged with participation in a robbery.
Matthews said he plans to improve security by buying a buzzer for the front door and changing the locations of the store's panic alarms.
(10/03/00 9:00am)
A 23-year-old Penn Spectaguard was shot to death in his home Saturday evening in an apparent domestic dispute.
Linzie Scott was shot twice in the chest with a 40-caliber semi-automatic gun in his residence on the 800 block of South 51st Street at 5:10 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Scott usually worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift at the 37th Street Quadrangle gate, according to Spectaguard Assistant Vice President Gesi McAllister.
"His supervisor never had a problem with him," McAllister said of Scott, who was hired in February. "Everyone liked him."
Philadelphia Police Department spokesman Jim Pauley said the primary suspect in the fatal shooting is 23-year-old Angela Lewis, Scott's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child.
Lewis was at the scene when the police arrived. She was arrested and taken to the PPD's Homicide Department. It was unclear as of last night who alerted emergency officials after the incident.
Homicide is currently investigating Scott's death. The detective handling the case was unavailable for comment last night.
McAllister said Scott was so thankful to have his job working at Penn that he often wrote grateful letters to the person who had hired him.
College senior Michelle White, who works in the Quad key office, often was on duty at the same time as Scott.
White described Scott as a "really, really nice guy." She remembered that he routinely fed a squirrel that lived in the Quad.
"The squirrel would be sitting on his lap and he'd be feeding it pretzels," White said.
And University Police Chief Maureen Rush said she was especially saddened by Scott's death because of his age.
"It was a very young life to be snuffed out from violence," Rush said.
According to White, Scott always worked to further his career. To increase his job prospects, he took classes at the Computer Learning Center.
(09/29/00 9:00am)
Auto Theft
€ September 28 -- A male University employee reported that his black Chevrolet pickup truck, valued at $8,000, was taken from a parking lot at 3100 Chestnut Street between 5:45 a.m. and 12:18 p.m.
(09/28/00 9:00am)
Robbery
€ September 25 -- A man unaffiliated with the University reported that he was robbed at gunpoint by two men on the 3100 block of Market Street at 10:30 p.m. Taken was a cellular phone, $26 in cash and two books, altogether valued at $200. The two robbers fled east on Market Street. The man described one of the robbers as a 17- or 18-year-old black male, 5'7" tall and weighing 160 pounds. At the time of the incident, he was wearing blue jeans and tan construction boots. The other man was described as a 20- to 25-year old black male, six-feet tall and weighing 170 pounds. He was wearing black jeans and tan construction boots at the time of the incident.
(09/28/00 9:00am)
The Division of Public Safety dissolved its Security Services Department last Friday, handing over Penn's security initiatives to three outside firms.
The move eliminated the job of Security Services Director Stratis Skoufalos, who had led the department for almost three years. Skoufalos' last day was last Friday.
Skoufalos, a 24-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department who came to Penn in 1998, is the only member of the four-person Security Services administrative team who left the University entirely.
Activities formerly coordinated by the department will now be handled directly by Security Services Technology, IXP and Spectaguard, all of which already handle major security operations for Penn. The three companies will report directly to Vice President for Public Safety Thomas Seamon.
Security Services -- one of four departments run by the Division of Public Safety -- handled security guards, blue-light phones, building access control, alarm systems and closed circuit television monitors.
Seamon said the elimination of Security Services was an attempt to get rid of the "middle man" between outside security companies and Seamon himself.
"As [the outside firms] grew in capabilities, our own in-house staff was becoming somewhat redundant," Seamon said. "We didn't need, in effect, the middle people."
For instance, Spectaguard Assistant Vice President Gesi McAllister, who used to report to Skoufalos, now reports directly to Seamon.
Chris Algard, who served as the associate director of Security Services, is staying on as an advisor to Security Services Technology.
Algard said his new job is to "basically assist [SST] in the transition, advise them and specify new installations."
Maria Romeo retained her post as security systems administrator and will report to IXP's director of University operations.
Security Operations Manager Domenic Ceccanecchio left the Division of Public Safety to work in Penn's Information and Computing Services.
The three companies already coordinate most of Penn's security activities. Spectaguard trains uniformed security officers, IXP provides technology for the University Police Department's PennComm dispatch and surveillance center and SST installs and services alarms, access control systems, closed circuit TV units and blue-light phones.
Seamon stressed that the decision to eliminate Security Services had nothing to do with its administrators.
"It was a difficult decision," he said. "They were hardworking employees and very loyal to Penn."
According to Seamon, installation and repair of security systems will now be handled by Facilities Services, which he hopes will cut down on red tape and make the repair process run more smoothly.
Security Services is one of many University functions to have been recently outsourced. The first major outsourcing was in 1998, when the Trammell Crow Co. took over nearly all University building construction and real estate. But that deal was dramatically scaled back last spring after Penn administrators decided that the company was not giving them a high enough level of service.
Since then, Penn has contracted out Dining Services and its employee benefits office.
(09/25/00 9:00am)
Auto theft
€ September 22 -- A person unaffiliated with the University reported that a black BMW convertible was taken from the Penn Tower Hotel parking lot at 399 South 33rd Street between 7:30 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.
(09/25/00 9:00am)
When Pat Brennan began her career as a police officer in 1976, Philadelphia was a decidedly unfriendly place for a woman in law enforcement.
At the time, Frank Rizzo was mayor and Joseph O'Neill was police commissioner. And neither were known for their enthusiasm about women police officers.
Eventually, they did allow 100 women -- including Brennan, now the director of the Division of Public Safety's Special Services Department -- to enter the Police Academy. After graduation, however, Brennan discovered that it would be difficult to succeed without the backing of Rizzo and O'Neill.
"They made our lives as miserable and unbearable as possible," Brennan said.
Not only did the women have to cut their hair short and wear men's uniforms and shoes, they also were not not permitted to ride in patrol cars with male officers.
"They were afraid we were going to have sex in the car," Brennan said.
The new female officers were also assigned to the six highest-crime districts in the city, according to Brennan.
She remembered patrolling her beat on Germantown Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia late one night when a man walking his dog joined her. He walked up and down the street with her for several hours before asking when her shift ended.
She said that she still had three hours left, and that he did not have to stay with her.
"Yes I do," the man replied. "You'll get eaten alive out here alone."
After one year on the job, 30 of the original 100 women who graduated from the academy resigned.
Why didn't Brennan join them?
"Oh, God, I was too stubborn," she laughed. "Because people told me I couldn't do it, I had to prove them wrong."
After four years on foot patrol, Brennan became a detective, a more woman-friendly position. She spent nine years in the Homicide Department before leaving the Philadelphia Police Department to join the Penn Police force in 1996.
And in August, Brennan, 49, took over as head of Special Services, after serving as its acting director for almost a year.
Special Services investigates "sensitive crimes" -- rape, sexual assault, stalking and hate crimes -- and arranges for the victims to receive physical and psychiatric treatment.
"They had several candidates for the job, but she always came to the front as the best candidate," said Det. Jim Blackmore, who has worked under Brennan for a year and a half. "She's very level-headed, very compassionate."
And while being a woman was a hindrance at the beginning of Brennan's career in law enforcement, it is now an advantage.
"We're more sensitive, we understand women's issues, we understand the complexities of sensitive crimes," she said. "These are just nuances that men would have a hard time picking up on."
Brennan's office at Penn Police headquarters is softly lit and furnished all in wood. A Japanese rock garden, potpourri, dishes of candy and vanilla candles decorate the shelves.
"This doesn't look like a police officer's office, does it?" Brennan asks anxiously.
"Women can feel comfortable coming in here, which is exactly why I keep my office this way -- so they don't feel like they're talking to a police officer," she said.
