School has not even begun, yet some students are already exhibiting nervousness about the school year. Not about their duties within the classroom, but instead, many are apprehensive of the seemingly hostile nightlife that has suddenly emerged in downtown Madison.
As reported in The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison has seen a 76 percent rise in crime from last year over the same period of time.
From January through Aug. 1, strong-arm street robberies—robberies where the mugger does not use a weapon but threatens the use of force—in the downtown region numbered at 27, with more than half occurring in the State Street area.
Striking fear in students in ways that the Madison Police Department could not, these hooligans put doubt in the minds of all partygoers and late-night bookworms. Something as simple as walking home is suddenly the dreaded act of the day.
It is unfortunate that such a problem exists, as college is supposed to be about building one's self up for the real world.
Unfortunately, these muggings do just that, as the realities of the real world have snuck up on unsuspecting students just as quickly as the eager mugger that pops out from around a building.
A city that has continually aspired for big city status finally has a big city problem. That is the harsh reality that must be accepted.
Downtown Madison is generally a safe haven, free of violence other than the occasional bar brawl, so this recent string of muggings has rattled a few people. The mugging of an innocent college student is an attention grabber and has a shock value to a Midwest community that very rarely has anything worse to report on the evening news.
A few criminals on a campus of more than 40,000 students is not enough to warrant calling in the national guard, but a rise in such events is cause for concern.
City officials need to permanently add more officers to the late-night police patrol staff. Better and more adequate lighting should be required on all downtown streets, and it should be installed immediately.
Students should be allowed to buy mace at any local store, although interestingly enough, currently students cannot.
Lost within the safety precautions that police have given city residents is a bit of mind-boggling irony. The police can pepper spray students on Halloween in a preemptive measure to thwart rowdiness, but students cannot arm themselves with pepper spray to protect themselves from muggers.
Why? Simply because a Madison city ordinance says so, as the sale of pepper spray and mace is prohibited in Madison. Ultimately, the onus falls on the college students themselves, as the erratic schedules and lifestyles of 40,000 college students is impossible for police to preside over.
And yet, at the same time, it is unrealistic to expect college students to put their life on hold, even if it means putting themselves in harms way. Students come to Madison to learn and further themselves in pursuit of a future career. They should not have to worry about potential threats to their safety.
As a college student at the UW-Madison, I am hopeful that Madison is just experiencing a momentary rise in criminal activity and that police and city officials will continue to collaborate and work on finding ways to curtail the random acts of violence, no matter the monetary cost.
