Following a string of violent crimes on and near campus, the University is investing $5 million in a new program to improve safety and security. Penn Public Safety will use the money to increase the number of uniformed and plain-clothes police officers by 20 percent and the number of security guards by 50 percent. Both will patrol the streets during the evening and early-morning hours. The program will also add more lighting, security cameras, and emergency phones, which have proved effective in reducing crime.
This investment comes on top of Penn’s addition of $2 million in supplemental resources to its safety and security programs this fiscal year. Since November, the campus police have been working with Philadelphia police to form a tactical joint force of uniformed and undercover officers. The task force has resulted in more than 90 arrests.
Though overall crime in University City last year decreased by 26 percent from 2004, the number of robberies was up last fall. In January, an Engineering sophomore was injured by a stray bullet at 38th and Walnut streets, and another Penn student was attacked at 41st and Delancey streets, according to reports in The Daily Pennsylvanian.