| Increase in muggings prompts more patrols (4/08) | | Print | |
| Written by Sandra Chen | |
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After the spring musical on April 11, police cruisers patrolled Eucalyptus Drive at the administration’s request."We had to make sure that no one was hiding out on the street that night," security guard Ron Hodges said. “Muggings are happening all over the city.”
In the past month, muggings have happened as close to campus as San Francisco State University and Stern Grove, prompting the administration to send out notices in the weekly bulletins encouraging students and parents to be alert and to develop plans to better protect the campus. Security guards are posted around the campus as late as 4:30 p.m.. Because most of the recent muggings occurred after 5 p.m., principal Andy Ishibashi encouraged students “to be careful with walkmen and iPods and always walk in groups” any time. To further increase campus security, a fence surrounding the tennis courts going around the bungalows and a gate blocking the entrance by the art wing will be installed. Freshman Mitchell Mankin approved of this plan. “The area by the art wing seems to be the most dangerous part of the campus,” he said. “There are a lot of places to hide behind.” The security and administration are “going above and beyond to provide protection for the students,” Ishibashi said. However, according to both Hodges and Ishibashi, the campus has only six security guards, the lowest security guard-to-student ratio in the district. When students are not on campus, school officials struggle to ensure their safety. “All we can do is get the warning out," Hodges said. “Since most of the muggings have been off-campus, we can't do very much.” |
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to listen.
