With the flood of on-campus sexual assaults this academic year, UW-Madison students have more than a right to be concerned. Equally concerning is the confusion. Since most situations require students to walk home alone at night, they are left wondering how they can protect themselves.
This confusion is most apparent during finals week, for one cannot expect his or her peers to be studying in the same place at the convenient time of 3:45 a.m. Despite this problem, the UW and Madison police departments both seem to bear the slogan of ""avoiding the streets alone at night."" Considering that goal has not been working—as this campus just witnessed two more sexual assaults last month—it is time for the police to take the upper hand.
The police are already late in taking action since the first attack hit eight months ago when Paul Aud, 33, kidnapped and sexually assaulted a student on the 100 block of Langdon Street, leaving her with bruises and inflammation on the side of her face, according to police reports.
Why the police were not patrolling there remains a mystery. In September, after a group of men violently sexually assaulted a girl behind Ian's Pizza, police continued to spread the message of not walking home alone at night.
But people should not have to worry about walking the streets alone at night. It is the responsibility of the police to ""serve and protect,"" isn't it? When one cannot even walk around Madison at night without fear, there appears to be a lack of protection by the police.
This lack of protection continued in November when, according to police reports, Antonio Pope abducted a girl on the 1500 block of Observatory Drive, brought her to an apartment, sexually assaulted her and then brought her back to campus. The incident occurred not too far from the ""rape shore"" dorms, which everyone, including the cops, should know is a very vulnerable place for young women especially.
Regardless, the victim had to get home, and instead of just preaching against going home alone, the police should focus on protecting the people who do. Just two weeks later, Pope allegedly abducted a girl on the 500 block of North Carroll Street, and did the same thing.
To this situation, Dean of Students Lori Berquam said: ""We are a target. We need to take more responsibility toward personal safety."" She then put the burden on the students to look into extended hours of SAFE programs.
The responsibility Berquam and the police are putting on students is absurd. College students should not have to do the work in this department—police are supposed to protect us. UW-Madison students pay taxes, and part of those taxes goes toward paying the salaries of UW police, so that, in turn, these students are protected, and that should include when walking home alone at night, intoxicated or not.
Just last month, on the 1000 block of Spring Street, police reported that two males approached, attacked and sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman. A week later, two other men allegedly abducted a 23-year-old woman on the 500 block of East Wilson Street, took her to an undisclosed area and ""violently sexually assaulted"" her.
After the incident, Captain Mary Schauf, Madison Police Department's central district commander, said, ""Residents must take all measures necessary to remain safe."" Perhaps the police should start taking all measures necessary to protect residents. In fairness to the police, they are probably preoccupied busting house parties or spying on freshmen exiting Church Key to give them drinking citations.
Despite these inconsistencies shown by local police, MPD spokesperson Mike Hanson seemed to sum up the best solution when he said: ""The complete blame goes onto the suspect who attacks their victim. It's our job to find those people and hold them accountable.""
While this statement seems hopeful, actions speak louder than words. Students anticipate seeing these actions put into place, in turn preventing the actions of these scumbags whom the police cannot seem to get a hold of.
