Penn Police hit rough patch

It's been a tough few weeks for the Penn Police.

An officer on a motorcycle hit two Drexel graduate students on Locust Walk Friday afternoon. Some students accused police of using excessive force when officers were called to quell a disturbance at a sorority event near campus on Thursday. And a surge in robberies culminated in two violent attacks two weeks ago.

All this came to a head as the University Board of Trustees -- the top decision-making body for campus issues -- was in town last weekend for its annual fall meeting.

In fact, public safety, and some of the negative press that the University has received in the city because of it, was a major topic of discussion for the trustees.

"Public safety is ... an area that really is in the spotlight," Penn spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said. "Incidents of crime are never really pleasant things to have to talk about publicly."

Holtzman stands behind Public Safety officials, though. And police administrators say morale remains high.

"They're more than prepared to deal with whatever comes along," Holtzman said.

She added that safety is the first priority, with publicity trailing far behind.

In one of the recent robberies, a Drexel graduate student was punched in the face on the 4000 block of Walnut Street. In the other, two Penn undergraduates were robbed and one was struck with a handgun.

Chaos erupted last Thursday at the Alpha Chi Omega sorority's annual Big Man on Campus charity event.

As about 500 students waited to get into the event at World Cafe Live, Penn Police called for assistance from Philadelphia officers to help control the crowd.

By the time the crowd dispersed, police had handcuffed three Penn students following physical altercations. Two of them spent the majority of the weekend in a holding cell at the Philadelphia Police Department's headquarters at 55th and Pine streets awaiting arraignment.

In the aftermath, some students spoke out, alleging that police -- mainly from Philadelphia -- used excessive force in the midst of the melee.

Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said that Penn Police performed as well as possible at the BMOC event.

"Penn Police tried to do everything that they could that night to make that situation end in a peaceful way -- in a way that no one was injured," she said.

Adversity and controversy are unavoidable in law enforcement, Penn Police Patrol Capt. Joseph Fischer said.

He said that officers are responding well.

"It's not that you accept [the public criticism], but you have to recognize that it's part of the job," he said.

Rush also echoed Fischer's sentiments.

"Anybody in law enforcement who thinks there's never going to be controversy and that everybody's going to love you is in the wrong field," she said.

Police officers are not the only ones who are susceptible to public criticism -- as Rush can attest.

"I get my teeth kicked in pretty often around here," Rush said, "but I do it because it's a mission -- a mission to make everyone safe."

Many people appreciate the effort Public Safety makes, Rush added, and that can be an important boost to morale.

She said that on Friday -- one day after the BMOC event -- a University department sent a large floral display and card to the Division of Public Safety to express gratitude to police and security officials.

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