In the past couple months, there have been numerous robberies and attempted assaults in the Westwood area. And while university police investigate the incidents, other civic measures should also be taken to improve safety in the area.
The most straightforward and cost-effective solution would be to install more streetlights in heavily trafficked parts of Westwood North Village.
The streets on the west side of UCLA’s campus, including Gayley Avenue, Landfair Avenue, Kelton Avenue and Ophir Drive, are known for their patchy and inconsistent lighting.
Travelling home alone on dark streets in the late hours of the night can be daunting for anyone. Better lighting along the streets surrounding campus will not only make night walks to and from campus less intimidating, but could potentially reduce the numbers of assaults and robberies.
But the link between lighting and physical safety is complicated.
According to Jason Pak, a UCPD crime detective, lighting is not believed to actually influence the frequency of late-night crimes.
More importantly, students rarely pay attention to their surroundings when walking late at night, Pak said.
Students are distracted by things such as their phones or their music, so they remain unaware of changes in their environment, Pak added.
Even if cell phones and music serve to lessen students’ awareness of their surroundings, a poorly lit street only amplifies the problem.
According to a 2002 study by David P. Farrington, a professor of psychological criminology at Cambridge University, and Brandon C. Welsh, an assistant professor in the department of criminal justice at University of Massachusetts Lowell, improved street lighting can help lower an area’s crime rate by up to 30 percent.
The study also demonstrated that long-term savings from lowered crime rates would by far exceed short-term spending to improve street lighting.
Although this study took place abroad, its implications for the correlation between street lighting and crime rates should be taken into account in our own corner of Los Angeles.
For its part, UCLA provides valuable safety-oriented programs for students, but these too have their limitations.
The Community Service Officer walking escort service and the evening van service are both safety measures offered by the UCPD.
Yet the van services are open only until 11 p.m., and evening escort services are only available until 1 a.m.
For the remainder of the night, students are left to ensure their own safety.
Although these services are valuable tools in ensuring students’ well-being, assaults and robberies still occur, often in the hours of the night after these services are no longer available to students.
The last robbery and the last attempted assault that occurred around UCLA’s campus both happened around or after 1 a.m., after the evening safety services closed for the night.
In addition, improved lighting doesn’t require students to take additional steps for their safety.
Students don’t have to call and wait for an escort or van to arrive, something that may play a factor in their decision to walk alone.
Should students decide to stay in the library to study late at night or go out and visit friends and socialize, a little added psychological comfort, whether real or perceived, is well-placed.
Ryan Krebs, a UCLA alumnus who holds a renter’s seat on the Westwood Neighborhood Council, said the issue of lighting could be addressed by the Westwood Neighborhood Council soon.
It is vital that students advocate for lighting improvements, either through the Westwood Neighborhood Council or by contacting the City of Los Angeles directly, to demand safer sidewalks.
Email Freedman at zfreedman@media.ucla.edu
Area landlords should be peeved as well. As soon as things turn for the worse and students (and their parents) decide to stay on campus all fours years, is only when you’ll really see changes. The Westwood Neighborhood Council views renters and the North Village as second class citizens and fleeting, so the renters’s seats are seemingly honorary. One would hope that renters and students on the council push for and strongly advocate for changes that improve the area for renters. I’m sure if this type of crime were to creep into the homeowners areas of Westwood, the council would hold an emergency meeting and call for the National Guard to set-up chackpoints!