University of Virginia Library

Sensible Precautions

A number of people have been understandably
distressed and angered by the two
incidents of attack and rape which have
occurred recently on the Grounds. They have
tended to blame the University police,
primarily, for allowing such things to happen.

It is understandable that students and
members of the community be sorely upset
when the fact that it is sometimes dangerous
to walk the Grounds at night is driven home
in so dramatic a manner. It is not rational,
however, to talk of police crackdowns and
vigilante groups in an effort to remedy it.

We are not about to say that the University
Police are paragons of law enforcement or
even rivals for Dick Tracy. They undoubtedly
do spend an inordinate amount of time
handing out parking tickets. But it must be
remembered that the University is a community
of some 10,000 people; that it exists in a
small city of some 30,000 people; and that on
party weekends the total is swollen even
more. In a group that size there are bound to
be some psychopaths. People must recognize
that the danger exists and will always exist, at
least until there are high walls around the
University and everyone in it has to pass a
psychiatric test before being able to walk the
streets.

More and better lighting would undoubtedly
be an aid in preventing muggers and
degenerates from having an opportunity to
strike. It would be even more helpful,
however, if people simply avoided those areas
of the Grounds where the lighting is
inadequate and whose there are likely to be
few, if any, people around to respond to a call
for help. There should be no two points on
the Grounds that cannot be traversed on foot
via a lighted path, although often the lighted
path is not the shortest route. There is no
reason to expect the University police to be
able to patrol all areas at all times, even if
they do seem to be ever on the spot when a
parking violation occurs. At the same time, we
would hope the University police would more
heavily patrol areas known to be dangerous at
time of increased student traffic such as on
party weekends.