Just following the end of the school year for many UW-Madison college students, four muggings occurred in a single weekend in the area surrounding the UW-Madison campus. This follows many other incidents that have been seen sporadically throughout the school year.
In each case, the attackers were described as young black men traveling in groups. Most often the attackers have beaten up and robbed their victims.
Kyle Schneider, a UW-Madison student was a victim of a mugging that occurred on the corner of Mound and Randall streets.
'At 10 pm on May 5, two guys came from behind and jumped me,' Schneider said. 'They said something so I stopped and before I knew it they hit me over the head with a bottle.'
His attackers hit him numerous times and then attempted to rob him. Schneider led them to the Open Pantry convenient store where they then fled the scene.
According to Madison Police Public Information Officer Mike Hanson, 'They do a 'smash and grab,' which is a quick attack on the person and grab the money and take off as fast as you can.'
These events have changed many people's view of downtown Madison and are a cause for concern for current and prospective students.
'It changes how I feel about things entirely,' Schneider said. 'I've pretty much lost confidence in safety as a whole, and certainly won't walk places alone at night.'
There are programs on campus to help keep students safe, including SAFEwalk and SAFEride.
'It makes the whole SAFEwalk program seem that much more important during a time when it was seen by most as useless,' Schneider said.
This rash of violent crime has made some worry and question the safety of downtown Madison, but others still believe the area is a very safe place to live.
'This is a very safe neighborhood,' said Ald. Austin King, District 8, 'It's not like I'm walking around in constant fear.'
When asked what advice to give people who are new to Madison, including incoming freshman, Schneider gives some advice.
'Be sure not to walk alone anywhere and if at all possible stick to main streets as they are the most lit and people are around,' Schneider said. 'I had to learn the hard way and hope other people learn from all this.'
George Twigg, spokesman for the Mayor's office, offered similar advice.
'We encourage citizens to use common sense and keep themselves safe,' Twigg said.
According to Hanson, the police are working on identifying and catching the suspects, but this proves to be a hard task due to conflicting information from the victims, who are either intoxicated or knocked unconscious during the attack.
'We are trying to develop leads with the victims by gaining information on the suspects,' Hanson said. 'There are various suspect descriptions.'
The city police are working with the local government and the victims to catch the attackers and to make Madison safer by allocating extra patrols and security measures for the downtown area.
'The mayor is confident that the steps they are taking to crack down are going to be effective,' Twigg said. 'It is our hope that the recent activity is something that is isolated and that we will be able to reassure students that it is a safe place to be.'
