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One week after a robbery outside the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority on Langdon Street, some University of Wisconsin students expressed anger about police response to the incident during a panel of Madison leaders on safety Tuesday.
Members of the panel and audience stressed the need for both immediate and long-term action to reduce crime on Langdon.
At one point, a female student in the audience spoke out angrily about the perceived lack of an immediate response.
“It’s a reoccurring problem. You’re having robberies. You’re having houses broken into. Something needs to be done. How many times is this going to happen until someone steps in to make it not happen?” she said.
Suggestions for long-term solutions included expanding current systems such as SAFEwalk, neighborhood patrols, emergency phones and the bus system by increasing their hours of operation and saturation on campus.
The most popular idea discussed was the installation of better pedestrian lighting. Several students noted streetlights are currently intermittent at best, giving those with malicious intentions plenty of opportunities to act.
One member of the Greek community added lighting would further increase safety by drawing more foot traffic to the area.
“There are so many students who don’t feel safe walking on Langdon, and they’ll take State Street and turn onto Langdon at a different point. Bringing more pedestrians off that street is one of the safest things you can do,” she said.
Members of the panel generally agreed with the need for more lighting, but some stressed it will not solve the problem entirely.
“At some point, the person walking has to choose the safest route they know of,” said Madison Police officer Rene Gonzalez, who supervises the Langdon area. “I don’t want you guys to get a false sense of security because there is a light there.”
Short-term solutions discussed included covered porch light initiatives, temporary lighting and student education.
Dean of Students Lori Berquam stressed that students should always be aware of their surroundings when walking at night, noting that talking on a cell phone or wearing headphones is not always safe.
Others expressed confusion over why the WiscAlert system was not used after the recent robbery outside of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
Berquam responded by saying the robbery was not a situation that would call for an alert to be sent out, but in the future the “threshold” used to determine when to notify students could be expanded.
Some audience members preferred WiscAlerts only be used for extreme cases such as a bomb threat or shooting, as the amount of crime in Madison would make the amount of text alerts excessive if the threshold were lowered.
UW Police Lt. Eric Holen, one of the panelists, was pleased with the turnout for the forum. He said that at this point, raising awareness in the student body would be the best step.
“People need to perceive a need to know things about personal safety before they are going to learn about personal safety,” Holen said. “I think this goes a long way in increasing that awareness so people know there is something out there that will help make them safe.”
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Take cops away from checking for underagers and put them on the streets fighting violent crimes. Madison still beleives alochol is the root of all ills. Students have been drinking for a long time and crime has only peeked recently in respect.
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Give every student a handgun. Someones likely to shoot the thugs sooner or later.
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“Some audience members preferred WiscAlerts only be used for extreme cases such as a bomb threat or shooting, as the amount of crime in Madison would make the amount of text alerts excessive if the threshold were lowered.”
A good argument to reduce the “excessive” amount of crime in Madison?
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The cops spend so much time giving out underage tickets and breaking up house parties. Why not spend all the time you put into breaking up parties, stopping the real dangers on this campus…. Oh and how hard would it be to put cameras up and down Langdon? Problem solved.
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“UW Police Lt. Eric Holen, one of the panelists, was pleased with the turnout for the forum.”
So the Lt. is pleased that crime has become such a big issue? Maybe if the cops spent less time violating our rights by illegally busting parties or giving kids on bikes DUIs (yes, they do this), we wouldn’t have to spend our time telling the police we would like to be safe on our own campus. Shape up MPD and UWPD.
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I agree. Cops need to quit worrying so much about underage tickets and focus more on the now. They should be reacting to current events, not something that has happened for years. Not only is robbery a problem but we still have MULTIPLE unsolved murders in this city. The University should figure out that parents will not want to send their kids to a University that has high rates of murder and crime. Every university has a drinking problem, most are safe. At this current moment, I would say that our University is NOT safe.
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It’s interesting that the police and an increasing number of students became more upset when there’s an armed robbery on Langdon. Only a few weeks ago, there was an armed robbery on Charter and Spring, an armed robbery at the Open Pantry on Regent Street a month or two ago, and multiple robberies from one side of the campus area to the other. Langdon is not the most important street on campus as this article and panel seems to imply. Walking in groups and cutting down on underage drinking is not the answer. I live half a block from the police station and don’t feel safe. They have to step up and start prosecuting these people and focus on the unsolved homicides. No matter how much the UWPD may want those homicides to go away; no one has forgotten about them and it’s still a huge concern on this campus.
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I love that one of the solutions proposed was increasing programs like Safe Walk. Did any of the robbed or assaulted students call Safe Walk and get turned down? I’m not blaming those students for what happened but at some point people need to use the programs that exist before spending more on expanding the ones that aren’t being used.
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To all people who think cops should stop worrying about underage drinking - YOU ARE WRONG! How else could the police raise all of their funds? Don’t we want a police force that takes the taxpayers concern to heart? - BW
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Madison wouldn’t have a street crime problem if it weren’t for drunk students from small towns and suburbs cluelessly walking around alone, wasted, at night. Until this town gets serious about its severe drinking problem, it’s going to continue to be wolves on sheep.
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It’s also ridiculous that they placed all those police on State Street during that time that the Vilas neighborhood had so many robberies…
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The student in Kappa Alpha Theta was not a “drunk student[s] from small towns and suburbs cluelessly walking around alone, wasted, at night,” she was coming home from the library. FYI.
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Well said, 1:09. I live in the Vilas neighborhood, and there have been three robberies within a block of my house in recent months. Nobody held a panel for us—Lori Berquam suggested that the best approach was for criminals to stay home. Then she checked in to make sure the ping-pong balls at Walgreens were a respectable distance from the Dixie cups and called it a day.
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-2:50pm A lot of the robberies have occurred during weeknights..to students coming back from the library etc..totally sober. idiot.
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I like how people think the police are not doing anything but just “busting parties”…The police can’t babysit students all the time. People need to take responsiblity for their own security and safety. Easty targets are those not paying attention to their surroundings, ie walkin…stumbling down the street by themselves after drinking makes an easy target for criminals. Or the leaving your door unlocked just because your home. Just because your home is not a deterent as we have seen criminals bold enough to cut screens to windows or enter when subjects are sleeping.
Adding lighting and cameras are a good start but it takes time for these to become installed. Walking in groups is good too but that is assuming you have friends with the same schedule as you. The safewalk services are helpful but in need of additional help to meet demands.
I believe the downtown community needs to come together and not just the Langdon street area but many neighborhoods.
In the end just because you get caught committing a crime..ie drinking underage doesn’t mean the police are only targeting you. It just happend you got caught doing something stupid to get noticed. Eventually I have hope that these criminals will do something boldy stupid and get caught.
Hopefully as a student body we can start making our community safer by making it harder for these criminals.
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2:40 couldn’t be any farther off the mark. Look to the recent robberies where alcohol was not involved, the attempt took place in the early evening, or the victims were walking in a group. It’s called being young, vulnerable, and carrying valuables, e.g., laptops, in proximity to the scourge. The police here need to stop being so by-the-books and take off the soft gloves with respect to dealing with the bad apples.
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I agree with you guys. I’m away on an internship this semester and things have gotten much worse crime-wise than last spring. I was always vigilant when I walked home late at night before but after everything I’ve seen this semester you can bet I’ll be carrying some form of personal protection at all times. It shouldn’t have to be like this. The UW should be more active in fixing this problem since the number of incoming applications will plummet if this problem gets worse and more publicized.
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How about instead of lowering the threshold, they make WiscAlerts localized? If a crime happens, they send everyone within a 1/4 or 1/2 mile the alert instead of the whole campus. As long as students kept a current address with the UW it would be pretty easy to do.
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Well, well, don’t we all have “the solution.” I wonder how many of you with all this input were actually at the meeting. If you cared enough to voice your opinion, I hope you attended the meeting. For those of you complaining about the cops busting underage drinkers, ask yourself how many times you got away with it before you got caught. Just because you happened to get caught, does not mean that’s all the cops do. And…for those of you pissed off because the cops aren’t protecting you, what have you done to protect yourself? You go to school in a city that is nearly 1/4 million in population. “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”