UW-Madison students have done a commendable job of taking safety into their own hands.
The Langdon Street Neighborhood Watch, organized by the UW-Madison Greek community, began its second period in late March after what the group said was a successful fall run.
Volunteers from several UW-Madison fraternities and sororities patrolled the Langdon Street area, keeping an eye out for their fellow students. This spring the program has expanded to also include information for safety groups and students on preventing assault.
""I think we have had unfortunately a few incidents involving the absence of eyes,"" Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said. ""I think this is a good way of sending a message that the community is concerned about it, and we're not going to tolerate it.""
Cieslewicz is correct in that UW-Madison students will not tolerate crime in their neighborhoods. However, we would argue that the absent eyes are those of City of Madison police officers and not UW-Madison students.
Every little bit helps, and it is a great service that there are students willing to sacrifice their free time to protect their peers and create a strong sense of community support.
However, when it reaches the point that UW-Madison students become responsible for patrolling the streets and calling 911 in absence of a few extra police officers in well-known problem areas, logistics need to be further addressed.
The voters of District 8, which includes the Langdon Street area, recently elected Eli Judge as their representative. Judge has many innovative ideas for how to combine community involvement and police interaction with the recently enacted Downtown Safety Initiative.
It is admirable that our district representative and fellow students are taking a stand and leading the way to achieve the safe community we envision.
However, we call on Judge and the Madison City Council to ensure a larger portion of the Downtown Safety Initiative goes toward putting officers on Langdon Street and other problem areas, such as Spring and Mills streets. Police would serve the Madison community much more patrolling these streets than raiding campus bars.
It is necessary for community and city officials to work together to change the face of safety in our downtown community.
While we applaud the efforts of the UW Greeks, we ask city officials to remember that they have the primary responsibility when it comes to the safety of UW-Madison students.
