Thanks to online social networking, Penn has had its fair share of flash mobs, including dance parties in Fisher Fine Arts Library and pillow fights on Locust Walk.
But these seemingly light-hearted organized events took a turn for the dangerous when over one hundred youths swarmed South Philadelphia last Saturday.
The mob was coordinated through online social networking. By the time it was over, the crowd of teens had hijacked and crashed a taxi, pulled a woman from her car and beat her and ransacked a Sunoco gas station.
While many Penn students (and parents) can take solace in the fact that the mob stayed on the other side of the Schuylkill, this story is eerily familiar. Just this past April, the DP editorialized on a crowd of juveniles that overtook the 40th Street corridor on campus.
While the incident was not nearly as violent as the one that took place in South Philly, it was still a cause for concern, resulting in a police blockade, the closure of McDonald's and an unconfirmed assault on an officer.
Back in April, we encouraged the community to start talking, before the problem escalated. Saturday's events indicate that this discussion and coordination between Penn and the community are more crucial than ever.
According to Philadelphia Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore, the crowds on 40th were smaller than usual last Saturday. Vanore suggested a connection between the juveniles who normally assemble on the west edge of campus to those that rampaged South Philadelphia.
In addition to increasing patrols in those locations, the police are working to monitor the social networking sites in order to head off future trouble.
With specialists in communication, urban planning, and computer science, Penn clearly has the resources to assist in untangling the online networks that lay at the root of these mobs. Penn's engagement should extend beyond that of quelling the crowds in our own corner of the city, but to contributing to making all of Philadelphia a safer place for its citizens. That is, after all, what good neighbors do.
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