DPS responds beyond campus

Sometimes, police have to think outside the zone.

On Sept. 30, a man was shot in the head near 44th and Market streets at the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Westpark Apartments.

Although it took place just outside the Penn Patrol Zone — which encompasses the area bordered by 30th and 43rd streets and Market Street and Baltimore Avenue — Penn Police aided the Philadelphia Police Department in responding to the incident.

The incident was an example of violent crime that necessitates Penn Police action in areas that, while off campus, are still home to several students.

The Westpark Apartments, also known as the projects, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said, are “notoriously dangerous and crime-ridden.”

As of last night, the case is open and the Philadelphia Police are still looking for the suspect, Southwest Division Detective Matt Farley said.

Penn Police went to the scene Friday night to serve as “back up” for the Philadelphia Police and to prevent the suspect in the shooting from fleeing into the Penn Patrol Zone. In addition, Penn Police will stop people who meet the description of the suspect.

Although parts of the area surrounding Penn are dangerous, “we’re pretty successful at keeping a bubble” of safety inside the Penn Patrol Zone, Penn Police officer Jim Kearns said.

Crimes against persons — such as assaults and homicides — “happen very rarely inside the Patrol Zone,” he added.

Outside the Penn Patrol Zone lie two dangerous Philadelphia police districts, including the 16th district — the site of Friday’s shooting — which lies to the northwest, and the 12th district, which lies to the southwest of campus.

The Penn Police, as a full-fledged police force, have the right to arrest anyone in the state of Pennsylvania. However, typically deciding whether to aid the Philadelphia Police is “not a question of if we can, but if we should,” Sergeant David Adler said, as it’s better to keep resources inside the patrol zone.

The Penn Police do, however, communicate extensively with the Philadelphia Police to stay informed about what crimes were committed in the area. In addition, the Division of Public Safety looks at crime mapping outside the patrol zone often as far as 50th Street and Girard Avenue to see what crime patterns may come to campus.

When certain crimes are perpetrated inside the patrol zone, officers often know where to look for fleeing suspects — and one of those places is the Westpark Apartments, Rush said.

The patrol zone, since its extension from 40th to 43rd Street in the early ’90s, acts as “a natural buffer to the actual campus,” Rush said. The patrol zone was extended as the Penn population increased and students moved increasingly into off-campus housing. The current patrol zone, as a result, is now highly populated with students from Penn, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Drexel University and even Temple University, she added.

In 1997, DPS made a contract with AlliedBarton Security Services to provide guard services in the area.

The University also helped found the University City District and its Clean and Safe program, based on the “broken windows” theory, which aims to reduce crime by keeping the community beautiful, Rush said.

The theory, which developed from an experiment conducted in Boston, established the concept that if a neighborhood is not cared for, people are more likely to commit “quality of life crimes” — including littering and breaking windows and cars — which eventually escalate to more dangerous crimes.

Since Urban Studies professor Eugenie Birch first began teaching at Penn in 1998, she has seen immense change on campus, which has corresponded with decreased crime rates. “Think vacant lots, lots and lots of parking lots, stores that were vacant, not populated, broken sidewalks, no trees, poor lighting,” she said of the campus 12 years ago.

“You will never have enough police to deal with crime,” she said. “What you need is more people on the streets,” she said, adding that the increased economic activity in University City has helped ward off crime.

Not every area outside the Penn Patrol Zone is dangerous — some are very safe, Rush said, adding that many graduate students and professors live near 46th Street and Osage Avenue.

College junior Molly Yeager, who lives outside the Penn Patrol Zone on 44th and Chestnut streets, said her “very quiet” area is populated by students and families. Although she lives in a first-floor apartment, she has had no break-ins and no disturbances. Yeager added that she never feels unsafe walking home late at night.

Penn Police do patrol the surrounding area, although less frequently. Resources are highly concentrated inside the “island of safety we present to students” in the Penn Patrol Zone, Rush said.

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