As near-campus shootings continue, Temple announces new steps to make students feel safer

As concern about violence and shootings in its North Philadelphia neighborhood intensifies, Temple University on Wednesday announced new measures to make students, particularly those who live in private housing near campus, feel safer.

The university is offering nearby landlords with student tenants up to $2,500 grants to install lighting and cameras on their properties. It also is opening up on-campus residences to any off-campus students who want to move in for the rest of the semester.

In addition, the university said it will help students living outside the campus police patrol zone — generally defined as North Susquehanna Avenue to West Jefferson Street and North 18th to North Ninth Streets with an extension on Broad Street down to Girard — find private housing within the zone if they prefer that to moving into residence halls.

A recent survey by Temple student government found that more than 80% of students living in campus housing reported feeling safe in their residence, compared with 56% of those in private housing near campus.

» READ MORE: Temple’s campus is on edge after a student was shot to death: ‘Students are afraid’

“The unspeakable acts of violence taking place near campus simply are not acceptable,” Ken Kaiser, Temple’s senior vice president and chief operating officer, said in a message to the campus community Wednesday night. “Safety is of the utmost importance to the university, and every potential solution is a chance to ensure it for our community.”

The moves come as shootings close to the campus have continued, causing angst among parents and students. Most recently, on Friday night, two teenage girls in a car were shot during an altercation at the corner of North Broad and Cecil B. Moore, which is on campus.

Another shooting occurred the same night in a house at 1826 W. Diamond St., which is outside the university police patrol zone. Both Temple students and nonstudents attended the party there, but Temple students were not involved in the shooting, said Charles Leone, executive director of Temple’s public safety. At the party a fight started and a male was kicked out, Leone said. He came back in shooting, and the security hired for the party fired back, he said. Two people were shot.

Temple’s campus has been on edge since November when student Samuel Collington was shot to death in the middle of the day during a carjacking as he returned to his off-campus residence after Thanksgiving. His death followed the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Ahmir Jones, who was not a Temple student, within three blocks of the campus.

» READ MORE: Amid recent shootings, Temple hires former Philly Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to conduct campus safety audit

The university at that time promised to increase security, including establishing more city police patrols in nearby student residential areas and boosting the 115-officer campus police force by 50%. The school also said it would upgrade lighting, cameras, and emergency phones and increase the availability of shuttle service and its walking escort program. And in January, the university announced that it had hired former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to conduct a campus safety audit. That audit is to begin next month, the school said Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the university said in addition to 10 new officers hired in January, several others are undergoing background checks and the department hopes to place 12 more in an upcoming police academy class. Even though the department has unfilled openings and has lost some officers, the university maintains that since Collington’s death, it has more than doubled the number actively patrolling through the use of overtime and supplemental Philadelphia police, whom the university is paying to patrol the area around campus.

“We’re in the middle of a crisis and we’re asking people to work overtime,” Kaiser said.

He added that it has been “super challenging” to hire officers, noting that the city police force also is short-staffed.

“It takes time,” he said.

And more police patrols can’t solve all the problems, he said. A Philadelphia police patrol had passed by North Broad and Cecil B. Moore just 90 seconds before the March 18 shooting, the university said.

The university said it also is in discussion with neighborhood groups to establish a watch program. It hopes to place trained “public safety ambassadors” on patrol in the area.

Kaiser said he’s not sure how many landlords would qualify for the grants, but it extends generally to those within the campus patrol zone, he said.

The university has plenty of beds available for students who may want to move on campus, he said. Whether students would be charged anything depends on factors including how many opt in, he said.

“We’re going to cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “We’re not looking to make money.”

He estimated that as many as 10,000 students may live near campus, both in and around the patrol zone. An additional 5,400 live on campus.

In the survey administered by student government, nearly 70% of respondents said they thought Temple was attentive to campus safety issues. The survey also found that students were aware of campus safety services, such as the shuttle and walking escorts, but were not using them.

More than 5,300, or 16.7% of the 31,734 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who received the survey, responded.