iM
Are the streets
night?
■ Common-sense precautions deter crimes of opportunity I
Three University women have been raped
on campus this academic year. The in
cidence of other crimes — ranging from bike
thefts to shoplifting and burglary — is sky
rocketing on and off campus.
But increasing crime doesn’t mean
there's a campus crime wave, says Sgt. Rick
Allison of the Eugene Police Department.
While the campus rapes are appalling,
says Allison, the EPD director for campus
law enforcement, “that's certainly not an
epidemic.”
The real crime problem on campus, says
Allison, is crime against property.
Lots of people and lots of possessions
concentrated in a small area make the
University a “magnet” for thiefs, he says.
Two of the three rapes this year have
happened in University dormitories, and
Campus Security officials have undertaken
a massive "security check” to check ac
cessible dormitory doors and windows for
breaches of safety.
“The University has initiated ^rhe) survey
of the dormitory area with the specific ob
jective of improving the prevention of such
crimes,” Acting Pres. Paul Olum said.
“We will do everything we can. At the
same time there is a need for increased
vigilance on the part of all of us.”
To avoid trouble, women are urged not to
cross campus by themselves. Several dorm
itories and campus security provide es
cort services, and fraternities are consider
ing reinstating their escort service.
According to Mark Hallquist, president of
the Inter-Fraternity Council, the fraternity
service died last year from “lack of par
ticipation.”
Allison said the escort services are “cer
tainly worth a phone call,” though it’s un
derstandable that women are hesitant at
bothering strangers “just because they’re
going out of the house.”
The trend on campus, however, is for
female friends to accompany each other on
cross-campus jaunts, which lessens the
need for escort services.
Universities with large populations of
young, single women are prime ground for
sex criminals. Likewise, campus law en
forcement personnel have to handle pimps
who loiter near dormitories to recruit
women.
Rape, says Rape Crisis Network crisis
program manager Gail Wiemann, is a matter
women must deal with daily.
Laws recently adopted in Oregon have
improved the recourse for a rape victim.
“It’s a little bit easier for the victim to go
through the whole process,” says
Wiemann.
And now with women investigators han
dling early interviews following the
rape,"there’s a little more concern on their
part for what’s happening to the victim."
Avoid walking alone, Wiemann tells
women, and stay away from locations that
might be hiding places for potential rapists.
am Neighborhoods beef up safety measures
Concern over violent and personal
property crimes sparked by the rape of a
University woman last weekend has spread
to neighborhoods surrounding the campus.
Neighborhood leaders are recommend
ing security checks and burglar-proof locks
for all houses and apartments. And at least
one neighborhood group is planning work
shops in rape prevention and self defense.
But some community leaders are worried
that interest in security will last only as long
as the publicity of violent crimes. Once the
crime is forgotten, some say, so is the
concern for safety and security.
"The problem is that most people think it
won't happen to them,” says Charlotte
Lemon, chairer of the West University
Neighborhood crime prevention committee.
“It seems, unfortunately, that not until (a
crime) happens do they get real excited
about it and want to prevent it.”
Because of the transient nature of the
west University area, Lemon says neigh
borhood leaders must be persistent in their
attempts to beef up residential security.
“When something like (a rape) happens
we get more interest (in crime prevention),
but then people start fogetting about it,” she
says.
The west University area is a prime target
for burglars and other criminals because of
the poor security in many old houses rented
by students, says agent Mike Marsh of the
Eugene Police Department.
Many houses and apartments have in
adequate locks on doors and windows that
are easily broken, Marsh says.
“A lot of those older homes weren’t made
for security,” he says. "Back then they
didn’t worry about it.”
Marsh says the EPD offers free security
checks for students concerned about crime
prevention in their neighborhoods.
Many neighborhood groups also offer
free crime prevention workshops and low
-cost dead-bolt locks along with other
security measures for area residents.
The West University Neighborhood
Center will install dead-bolt locks in area
homes and apartments at a reduced rate,
Lemon says. And the center loans engrav
ing tools to residents for etching identifica
tion numbers in valuable items.
The center also is planning workshops on
rape prevention and self-defense in the next
two months.
Lemon encourages students living in
apartments to contact their landlords if they
have inadequate locks on their doors and
windows. The landlord then can go to the
center and request locks for the entire
building.
“If tenants don't complain they won’t get
any locks," says Lemon.
“It’s just real sad that someone has to
suffer because maybe (the crime) could
have been prevented," says Lemon.
Story by Richard Wagoner
"Walk down the middle of the street if you
have to," she says.
On campus, Allison encourages people
walking alone to avoid the walkways
between Bean Hall and Agate Street, the
architecture area, the Millrace, the walkway
and Franklin Boulevard near the physical
plant, the Hayward Field stands, and the
area south of 15th Street on Agate.
Pioneer Cemetery has long been the
worst spot for campus crime. Rapes, as
sualts and indecent exposures have been
reported frequently in the graveyard in the
past, but none have been reported this year.
Some women carry items like umbrellas
and paralyzer sprays, says Wiemann. But
they should be prepared to "use them in the
pinch."
She says studies have shown physical
resistance is an effective way of stopping
rape, “unless you’re in danger of losing
your life."
Connections with potential rapists usually
begin with party jokes or advances. A
woman must make clear her feelings early,
Wiemann says.
"She has to be very much aware of what
she does and doesn’t want to happen.
Women have to make some decision about
what they will put up with.”
Rape is a crime of opportunity, experts
say.
Wiemann agrees: "99.9 percent of all
rapes can be prevented.”
As the crime prevention struggle contin
ues, staff in Acting Pres. Paul plum’s office
are assembling a report on the recent rape
of a University woman.
Olum’s staff is investigating student al
legations that a window through which
police believe the rapist entered the
woman's room had a broken latch.
“Rape is a terrible, terrible thing," Olum
says. “I'm deeply concerned about its in
creasing incidence in society and am par
ticularly concerned when the victim is a
member of the University community."
Story by Bill Manny and Paul Telles
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
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