Riders are on edge due to the recent string of random subway concourse attacks, but many Temple students who rely on SEPTA for transportation remain unfazed.
“I’m not any more nervous than I was before,” said Eric Weis, 36, a junior history major. “Philadelphia is a dangerous city sometimes, so you just have to be careful.”
Weis said he doesn’t try to avoid the subway at all in light of the attacks.
“I think it’s better than walking through the streets sometimes,” he said.
A woman was attacked near Market East Station just one week following the March 26 death of Sean Conroy after he was beaten at the 13th Street Station by a group of students from Simon Gratz High School.
Late Friday night, a third victim, a 30-year-old man, was assaulted then robbed by three suspects on the Market-Frankford Line between the 13th Street and 15th Street stops.
On Feb. 20, SEPTA police shot a man who pulled a gun on them at the Broad and Allegheny stop of the Broad Street Line, the stop many students use for the Health Sciences Center.
“Despite the recent assaults near the SEPTA system, between 1989 and 2007, SEPTA experienced an 87 percent reduction in felony-related crimes by implementing a variety of measures to insure the safety of our riders and facilities,” SEPTA press officer Gary Fairfax wrote in an e-mail.
“SEPTA has also begun a program called Smart Stations where enhanced communications/CCTV are among the chief design features. Cecil B. Moore Station is a pilot location for this program,” he wrote.
“[In] my experience, historically here with Temple University students, incidents on the subway have been few and far between,” said Carl Bittenbender, executive director of Campus Safety Services.
He said that SEPTA police are very responsive to Temple’s needs by keeping the lines of communication open and sending additional officers when Campus Police find it necessary.
“This past weekend, we had the concert at the Liacouras Center,” Bittenbender said. “SEPTA provided additional officers near the Broad and Cecil B. Moore entrance on the platforms as well as at the surface.”
Bittenbender said that Temple students aren’t any more likely than the rest of the population to be attacked, but that they still need to exercise caution and be aware of their surroundings at all times.
“A lot of crime is random. It’s opportunity, it’s different things,” he said. “This really is just senseless, and I don’t know the circumstances, but I know in both instances the police were very close by.”
Fairfax said that SEPTA often assigns extra police during school dismissal hours and in high-crime areas.
In addition to extra police presence, the civilian patrol organization, Alliance of Guardian Angels, also recently began to patrol the subway system.
“We’ve had sporadic patrols there before all of this, but now obviously the light is shining on this mess and as Guardian Angels we must respond,” said senior director Arnaldo Salinas.
Though deploying volunteers to patrol the subway is not cost-effective for the Guardian Angels, “we’re now committed to clearing up the mess that is in the system, … these wolf packs, if you will, that are diminishing quality of life in the system,” Salinas said.
The Guardian Angels carry no weapons, but Salinas said they are well-known and highly visible with their red berets, combat boots and reputation for being forceful, yet fair.
“No one is stupid enough to commit a crime in front of us,” he said.
Some students said that though they are not too nervous riding SEPTA as it is, the Guardian Angels can only help the situation.
“I feel like stuff like that can happen anywhere, really, so just after living in the city for a while, I don’t think I’d be more scared on the subway,” said senior sociology major Rosie Ferris. “But I’m sure [the Guardian Angels] probably make it safer.”
“I have definitely seen more security around, so that probably adds to the comfort level,” said second-year law student Adam Schlosser, who commutes daily to Temple from Center City.
Schlosser said he thinks that if everyone is aware that the Guardian Angels are out there, some crime will be deterred.
Bittenbender said that despite the recent incidents, he is still confident that SEPTA is a safe way for students to travel.
“Our students have had excellent experiences on the subway in my history here,” he said. “It’s not incident-free, of course, but I think the SEPTA police do a fine job of patrolling.”
Morgan A. Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.
I WANT TO START THIS OFF BY SAYING I’M A HARD WORKING EMPLOYEE OF THE SEPTA POLICE DEPARTMENT MY JOB IS TO INSURE THE SECURITY OF THE SYSTEM AND PROTECT THE PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY TO AND FROM WORK,I KNOW POLICE WORK IS A THANKLESS JOB BUT I MAKE IT MY DUTY TO DO MY JOB AS WELL AS I CAN AND I BELIEVE MY CO-WORKERS DO SO; WE KNOW WE ARE NOT GOING TO GET RICH BUT THAT’S NOT OUR INTENTIONS WE WANT TO BE PAID ACCORDING TO OUR JOB DESCRIPTION AND OUR JOB TITLE AS WELL THE DAILY RESPONSIBILITIES WE HAVE I WORK IN A PLACE WITH HOMELESS AND IN A DARK WHOLE THE CALL A SUBWAY WITH FUMES AND ORDERS THAT COULD POSSIBLY TAKE YEARS OFF MY LIFE TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF THE FIRST CLASS TO BE PAID LIKE A JANITOR OR A WAITRESS AND I THINK ITS HIGHLY UNFAIR FOR THE COMPANY TO ASK ME TO RISK MY LIFE TO PROTECT A SYSTEM THAT WONT PROTECT ME AND MY FAMILY…..
I, read the article SUNDAY IN THE INQUIRER and I think the septa spokes person is very poorly advised about the current situation in the Septa police department, they say we have 201 officers when that is highly untrue……we have 201 overall employees and that includes the 45 supervisors and the 8 radio dispatches and the 3 secretaries so that gives us about 145 police that you have to split up between 3 shifts and 7 zones and that could give you on any line lets say the Broad Street Line from Fernrock to Pattison stations 6 police officers like we had today, and see that is highly unsafe for the police officers let alone the public……we have 4 police cars just about throughout the whole line that’s the Broad and the Market Fankford Line so if a police officer like myself is having some troubles at say a station like North Phila my back-up has a ten minute turn-around before they get to me…….
next I, worked for septa for several years and I, have never seen 60 police officers working at anyone time, and that’s the truth…….second the starting pay is not 30,000 a year; the starting hourly wage is 13.40 an hour and at 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year its around 27,872.00 and the max salary for a officer after 4 years of service is 20.41 hour that works out to about 42,452.80 on both salaries you can add about 600 or so for random holiday work or anything but we are highly under paid……the starting salary was high for police officers in 1993 with the times and the prices of everything going up as should our compensation………
next I, highly feel disrespected by the Septa’s spokes persons MR MALONEY comments we do the same job as the Philadelphia Police Officers and I,think we should be treated as such we back them up on stops and we have most of the same responsibilities and WE DO JUST AS MUCH WORK……I, walk everyday securing the stations for passengers to walk and commute to and from their daily travels I, wake up at the butt crack of dawn to catch 2 trains to work just so the working class people can ride septa and make it their jobs……..I, wake up homeless I, make sure the groups of kids are going to school with our truancy detail and I, really have a problem with a department that wont back its police just because we work for a bus company…….
Mr Maloney says the system will be covered by private security and PPD but that’s why they formed the Septa police department in the first place so if private security could have done the job the whole time what was the reasoning behind forming this department in 1985 or so…….if we aren’t real police or don’t do the same job as PPD why do we have to attend the same police academy why do we go through all this mile and a half run and push-up,up sit-ups and so if we basically just security guards,why waste all this money making us like PHILADELPHIA POLICE sending us to the same schooling making our uniforms just like theirs and our chain of command just like theirs………we have a chief of police RICHARD EVANS WHO WAS A PHILADELPHIA POLICE CAPTAIN AT ONE POINT IN TIME I’M NOT COMPLETELY SURE IF HE WAS FIRED FROM PHILA BUT WE HAVE HIM NOW) AND HE IS NOT A CHIEF THAT WORKS FOR HIS WORKERS
SO PLEASE LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD CAUSE WE DON’T WANT TO BE RICH BUT WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO LIVE AND NOT HAVE TO WORK THREE JOBS JUST TO HAVE A VACATION ONCE A YEAR…..AND MOST OF THE GUYS STAY IN SEPTA NOT BECAUSE WE LIKE THE PAY ITS THAT THEY HAVE BEEN HERE SO LONG AND NO OTHER DEPARTMENT WILL HIRE THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR AGE…..
FINALLY I PROPOSE THIS TO YOUR READERS I KNOW YOU BELIEVE THAT POLICE ARE NEVER AROUND WHEN YOU NEED THEM AND I CAN HONESTLY AGREE WITH THE MAJORITY ON THAT STATEMENT,BUT WHAT IF ITS NOT THE POLICE WHO ARE HIDING OUT OR EVEN NOT WORKING TO PROTECT MAYBE ITS THE DEPARTMENT THAT THINKS ITS MORE COST EFFECTIVE TO HAVE 30 POLICE OFFICERS ON DUTY TO SECURE THE WHOLE TRANSIT LINE;BUT WITH THAT SAID WHY DO YOU SEE 3 OR 4 OFFICERS PATROLLING ALL YOUR REGIONAL RAIL STATIONS SUCH AS SUBURBAN AND MARKET EAST, WHY SHOULD ALL THE SECURITY GO TO THE WORKERS COMING FROM THE SUBURBS AND DIFFERENT STATES BECAUSE THEIR PASSES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE WHY SHOULD THE RECIEVEMORE SECURITY THEN THE WOMAN AND MEN COMING FROM NORTH OR WEST PHILADELPHIA
WHY SHOULD YOUR WEALTHIER COUNTER PARS HAVE MORE PROTECTION…..