In response to a recent series of peeper and prowler incidents
on and around campus, university police have issued a crime alert
urging residents to exercise caution and vigilance.
Since July 25, five prowler incidents have been reported and the
UCPD is investigating them as being possibly connected to one
another, said Nancy Greenstein, director of police community
services.
She said five is an unusually high number of incidents for a
three-week period.
“We’ve had a number of these calls,”
Greenstein said. “In each case, it was a suspicious person
looking in a window from the sidewalk.”
One of the reported incidents occurred at Sycamore Court in
Weyburn Terrace, a university-owned residential complex for
graduate students, according to UCPD crime analyst Kristi
Godines.
Greenstein said there have been other peeping incidents in the
area recently, including a shower peeper in Dykstra Hall. But she
said police were not investigating these incidents as connected to
the other five because they did not occur in “similar
contexts.”
These incidents come after a series of burglaries and attempted
burglaries were reported around Westwood in late June.
Second-year biology student Karen Paulson said the recent rash
of incidents concerned her.
“It seems like we’ve had a lot more of this kind of
thing lately,” she said. “It’s definitely
concerning that it’s happening in university housing, because
that’s usually pretty secure.”
Greenstein said police did not have any suspects in the most
recent peeper incidents, and were not yet sure whether the five
incidents were connected.
The alert issued by police gives three separate descriptions.
All three descriptions are of men, but they range in height from 5
feet 10 inches to 6 feet, and in age from 20 to 35 years old.
“It could have been three different people, or it could
have been the same person seen in three different lights,”
she said. “We just don’t have enough information
yet.”
But Greenstein said the lack of information so far should not
deter people from reporting suspicious activity.
“Even if it’s just someone going outside to smoke,
that’s OK, we’ll just go and make a friendly
contact,” she said.
In the past, descriptions of prowlers relayed to UCPD have led
to at least one arrest. In 2005, Derek Pratt was arrested while
peeping into residences on Roebling Avenue after officers
responding to a prowler call realized he matched the
suspect’s description.
Greenstein also urged people to keep doors and windows closed,
and to make sure landlords comply with the law by providing
deadbolts and window locks for ground-floor residents.
This map details the date and location of four
peeping incidents in the Westwood area, taken from university
police crime logs.
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