<p>Police:</a> Slain Wisconsin student apparently dialed 911 before death, but help was not sent </p>
<p>That's disturbing. If the girl calls for help, she ought to get help. I was just in Madison on Saturday. It's a gorgeous, vibrant campus, but a 911 service that doesn't respond to calls endangers students.</p>
<p>It would be fair to say most folks in town are just up in arms over this. People need to be FIRED. They finally have started cracking down on some of the dangerous homeless men that seem to be praying on the goodwill of Madison people. While they don't know it was a homeless person that did this some were seen in the area near the time of the crime looking for drug money.</p>
<p>Barrons, I'm just curious if you know if the University puts enough - if any - pressure on the city to address and "clean up" (sorry) this
homeless situation downtown/on campus. Because it seems to me that the situation is totally out of control and before not too long, the UW is sure to be facing lawsuits in not doing enough to protect their students. I know people come to the UW with the understanding that they will be attending school that basically encompasses the city, but at the same time, the hub of the UW seems to be the hub for these violent transients. It's just a question that needs to be asked. I know the police are trying to do their jobs the best they can, but when kids are getting killed and there are no answers, I'd like to believe the UW is voicing their outrage at the proximity and tolerance of this sad situation.</p>
<p>While I agree that it is tragic that this 911 call was not followed up, the article I read said there were 83 other 911 calls that very day that were hang-ups or "no one on the line'", as this one was. The Madison police apparently asked the 911 dispatchers not to send over every call like this for follow-up because it was too time-consuming for them. Cell phone calls, unlike land lines, are not easily traced to addresses.
And while I worry about crime as much as anyone, I am a little offended by the sentiments in this thread about "cleaning up" the homeless people. There but for the grace of God . . .</p>
<p>The time for being a little offended is over. Most of them are drunks and druggies and many are criminals. The velvet glove treatment has backfired and enticed more scum to move to the easy pickins of Madison as it did San Francisco. Now I doubt the UW can be head liable in anyway for what happens on the off campus streets of a city. That is just nonsense.</p>
<p>Also the police chief and later admissions by the 911 chief admitted they screwed up as there was more to the first call than silence.</p>
<p>WISCONSIN</a> STATE JOURNAL</p>
<p>I absolutely agree that the UW should not be held responsible for crimes committed off campus, but my question is because the situation has gotten so bad and the UW has 40,000 plus students present in the same area, isn't there anything UW can do to put pressure on city officials to make/enforce laws prohibiting transients or making it extremely difficult to get away with hanging out in buildings, loitering, panhandling people for (drug/booze) money on the streets, in stores, in their rental houses, etc.? I mean, coming from simply a "concern for a safe campus environment for our students" standpoint? I understand not all of these homeless are specifically "on campus" all the time, but the town isn't that big. We've said a million times,
the campus basically is the city. So, not only do I sincerely just not "get," that the city doesn't get tough and crack down on these druggies and make it uncomfortable/intolerable for them to get away with what they
have in the past, I'm also wondering how the UW is looking at and/or approaching this situation, if at all? And no, I don't have any sympathy for these particular homeless people and I consider myself a staunch democrat!
They are sucking and praying off students and others, basically making a nuisance of themselves and have become a true danger to the community. They aren't just benign helpless, homeless people anymore - most of them
are criminals and have extensive police records. My son is going to be a freshman there next year and I'm not trying to cause anymore alarm, but I am justly concerned.</p>
<p>The city has been cracking down bigtime. The UW has put considerable pressure on the police to do more to protect the students off campus. </p>
<p>Wausau</a> Daily Herald - Post-murder backlash hits Madison homeless</p>
<p>Statement</a> from Police Chief Susan Riseling on campus safety measures (April 3, 2008)</p>
<p>Oh I'm so glad to see that. Thank you!</p>
<p>As a UW student, I'm glad to see the cops finally cracking down on the homeless problem---I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it is a problem---before another incident happens. I think Barron's nailed it when he said the velvet glove has backfired. Remember, even though are decent homeless people out there just trying to survive, a lot of them are violent low-lifes and drug addicts that just come to Madison to hassle and hustle. They shouldn't be given much sympathy when it comes to being aggressive or intimidating, to students or otherwise.</p>