September crime rises 13 percent from last year

Students may need to keep a closer eye on their belongings this school year.

September crime increased 13 percent from last year, with about a 12 percent increase in crimes against property and a 25 percent increase in crimes against people, according to the Division of Public Safety.

“The highlight of what is driving [September crime rates] is theft of bicycles,” said Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush.

For the month of September, 32 bike thefts were reported, a “huge spike” from last September during which only 16 were reported — a 100 percent increase, Rush said.

Overall, theft rose about 17 percent from last September, with retail theft rising 50 percent from 8 to 12.

However, while theft from buildings is also up 7 percent, from 27 to 29 reported incidents this year, Van Pelt Library has been “very successful” in decreasing crime by working with the administration, Rush said.

A new process is now in place for people not carrying PennCards to gain admittance to the library that “has been paying dividends,” she added. The process gives staff “a little bit more personal contact with visitors,” which helps to deter people from entering for the wrong reason. Furthermore, visitors unaccompanied by a Penn student cannot enter the library after 6 p.m.; under old rules, unaccompanied visitors could enter until 10 p.m.

Crimes against people last month went from 12 to 15 compared to last year. Despite the increase, the majority of the crimes were reported from individuals unaffiliated with the University. Six affiliated people reported crime against person — two counts of forcible sex offense and three counts each of simple assault and purse snatching. Both cases of forcible sex offenses involved perpetrators known to the victims.

“Crimes against people is what is really important to us,” Rush said, as these crimes are typically violent in nature.

Notably, the use of walking escorts was up 60 percent from last September, and year to date is 15 percent higher than last year to date, mainly due to the “proactiveness of AlliedBarton” security officers in approaching Penn students, Rush said.

“We’ve never had anyone robbed when they are walking with [a security officer],” she said. No one affiliated with Penn reported a robbery this month.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.