Within the last few years, Madison's impressively low homicide rate has taken a slight shift. This time last year, all of Dane County boasted an annual homicide occurrence of less than two. Since the summer of 2007, the UW-Madison campus area alone has witnessed four fatal crimes, from the shooting of Austin Bodahl in front of State Street Brats to the fatal slaying of Brittany Zimmermann on West Doty St. As Madison's homicide rate changes, its campus safety strategies do not.
This University continues to preach walking home in groups. Great advice staff, but since these words have first been uttered, they have not stopped the acts of violence that take place downtown. Of course, walking in groups diminishes vulnerability and danger, and for that reason doing so should always be encouraged.
But the fact of the matter is, this argument is made each time that this campus is faced with a homicide or sexual assault; late night partying and long study hours often make it difficult to travel in groups. For this reason, the university should increase street enforcement to protect students in such unfortunate security situations. Certainly this would be more logical than limiting its safety tip to not walking alone.""
When trying to find the answer to diminish campus dangers, the university should assume that everyone walks alone. Sure, it should be stressed to do the opposite, but the fact of is that every night a large contingent of students will walk home alone, either because they have to or because they are simply stubborn. Because of this further protective measures need to be taken.
Yes, UW-Madison has SAFE options, but they are not always utilized. This campus needs to remove itself from the fantasy world that everyone is in good hands through the SAFE system, and needs to deal with the harsh reality that there are a plethora of vulnerable students walking around at night due to whatever the reason may be. Aside from this, even if 100 percent of the student body were to come home in groups or through SAFE, it does not erase the fact that Brittany Zimmermann was murdered in her own house. Why Lori Berquam's initial response to the situation was to ""walk in groups"" will remain a mystery, considering that it was beyond irrelevant to this murder.
It was interesting to see the increase in downtown police the first weekend after Zimmermann's murder. It was as if the string of sexual assaults that happened on campus last spring, combined with the kidnapping and murder of Kelly Nolan over the summer, were not pressing enough events to call for an improvement. Their role seemed quite impressive as well. It seemed more symbolic than productive, somewhat of a ""we're here now"" message being sent to the students who were faced more with the threat of ""Quiet down or we'll give you a citation"" than anything close to the comfort of being protected. What it will take for this city and university to realize that law enforcement strategy needs to drastically change is currently unanswerable.
It is a duty to protect the students of this university, not a favor. College kids do not always take the safety precautions necessary, and are probably more irresponsible than most when it comes to their own safety.
When this lack of maturity exists, the police are supposed to be there to help. When it is impossible to take such precautions, they should be there as well. Police are supposed to be present when times are dangerous. That is how the serve and protect system works. It is not supposed to serve as a nice addition to civilians who are already as safe as possible.
Dan Josephson is a junior majoring in legal studies and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
