<p>BREAKING NEWS: Student robbed at gunpoint on South 40</p>
<p>by Perry Stein and Puneet Kollipara</p>
<p>A female freshman was robbed at gunpoint on the South 40 Friday night while walking in the area directly north of Park House, according to the Washington University Police Department. At about 7:40 p.m., a man approached the student, pointed a gun at her and took her purse. The mugger fled and she was uninjured.</p>
<p>at least she escaped unhurt</p>
<p>Trapper, I knew you would post this the moment you heard about it! Not to trivialize the incident, but you make a point to post something negative about the school almost daily. If you hear the tuition went up, if you get waitlisted from your classes...etc. If you are so unhappy at WashU, you should transfer.</p>
<p>As far as I know, this is the first time something like that happened, same with the robberies. Last year the same row of buildings had the incident well known and it was an outsider. Maybe now the police will patrol that area more often and students will learn to be aware that even in the safest place, crime does happen.</p>
<p>Nervous1, I agree with your comment about Trapper. When the news about the robbery was in my email, I thought to myself, I'll bet Trapper will comment about this on CC.</p>
<p>I do agree that Trapper does seem to communicate the bad news, but it actually is helpful to me. I would not have known about this, and now I can make sure to discuss with d. Also, I think Trapper previously posted info about health ins., which I had not been aware of. Trapper's tone is somewhat negative, but that has no bearing on me. I can pick and choose the info that is relevant, and in most cases it's the only way I am informed of these issues.</p>
<p>The best way to find out what is happening on campus is to read the student paper at WashU - link follows Student</a> Life</p>
<p>Thanks ST2 for the link - that's very helpful!</p>
<p>That way you get to see both the good and the bad. Although being a student paper, it does tend to be a bit more critical (which it should be as a student paper) than the official news. As others have posted, although usually very safe, crime can take place anywhere. In the past few years, we have never had an unsafe feeling about the WashU campus.</p>
<p>Thanks, ST2, for the newspaper link. I think it's fabulous because not only does it have current info of interest to students (and others), but it enables comments as well. So many places do not have that kind of freedom of opinion and I think it speaks volumes about WashU that they are not afraid to have student comments published, even if they are negative sometimes. As a parent, I feel much more secure knowing that WashU allows the dirty laundry to be aired rather than suppressing it, because it makes it more likely that problems will be worked on.</p>
<p>I don't know about Trapper, but you can't deny this event is significant news. The South 40 area is not that large. I just cannot understand how it cannot be policed more effectively. It is not as if they did not have some warning. When they found out that the dorms were burglarized over break, they had to know they would be back.</p>
<p>I don't understand that either HartinGA, last year a girl was raped there early in the afternoon, and then cameras were installed, but it seems no one watched them.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't understand that either HartinGA, last year a girl was raped there early in the afternoon, and then cameras were installed, but it seems no one watched them.
[/quote]
Those cameras are mainly inside buildings, but they're used as a crime deterrent and investigative tool, and not for live security monitoring. WUPD has 130+ cameras in the residence areas - You couldn't possibly monitor all of those cameras without having to hire tons more staff, and probably removing some roaming patrols.</p>
<p>As for this incident, I understand it happened fairly quickly. What are the odds that anyone else could even see what was going on, between the time of day, and the speed in which it occurred?</p>
<p>I agree it is important that Wash U announced the robbery! The University of Iowa will not reveal the details concerning a sexual attack that took place few months ago. Some legal clause I guess(?) As a parent, I want to know about what is going at my S campus.</p>