Rape in MY FUCKING BUILDING

[Alyrium Denryle]

So apparently, UT Arlington has had a run on frat boys getting a bit rapey. And by a bit, I mean three rapes at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house over the course of the first week of classes. Normally, when crimes occur on campus, notices are posted about what to look out for etc if the police expect a repeat. Not for, what was apparently, a serial rapist (same dude committed all three). But that is not what I am here to talk about today. No.

Rape Occurs in Secured Animal Care Wing of UT Arlington.

Bolding for stupidity, my internal commentary will be in code boxes.

Police are investigating a report of sexual assault said to have taken place Saturday in the Life Science Building.
The report was made by phone at 3 a.m. that day, university spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan said. Police were dispatched at 1:53 p.m. that day, according to the police report.

Code: Select all

This is fucking ridiculous.  I am in the building at night on an almost nightly basis (not that night, but most nights).  There are police who patrol campus at night, diverting one of them to do something as basic as securing a god damn crime scene before literally everyone who works with vertebrates in every department the university has uses that god damn wing of the building, is not a difficult thing.  Holy Crime Scene Contamination, Batman!

Attempts to reach Sullivan about the difference in time were unsuccessful.

Code: Select all

Given that this person is the source of the rest of the information, I imagine that this was intentional, given that level of incompetence.

The report states the incident occurred in Life Science Building Room 583.
Room 583 is located on the fifth floor in the animal care area. Access to the room can be gained by swiping a MAV ID card. A sign and card swipe access pad by the door states “Entrance is for authorized personnel only and those who enter must display an ID badge at all times.”

Code: Select all

Provided the person who committed the rape used an access card, rather than blitz attacking someone at night, this should be pretty simple.  At 3 AM there are all of five to nine people in the building.  Janitorial staff, often me, maybe Dr. Chippindale, and perhaps 1-2 other graduate students.  All access data is logged.

Police have not made public whether the report involved students, faculty or staff, or whether those involved were male or female or if they knew each other, Sullivan said. The university is not releasing any additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.

“They just haven’t, they’re in the middle of the investigation,” she said.

Sullivan didn’t have the number of people who have access to the room or animal care area and did not answer whether the room is a classroom, a lab or an office by press time.

Code: Select all

Row after row of various sorts of animal cages and associated supplies and equipment

“I don’t have that information at all,” Sullivan said. “And there’s no way they would release that kind of information because it would be known to the parties involved. It compromises the investigation.”
Deans and assistant deans of the College of Science weren’t available by press time.

This is Not Permitted. Verboten.

[Kuja]

The report was made by phone at 3 a.m. that day, university spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan said. Police were dispatched at 1:53 p.m. that day, according to the police report.

[Jerry the Vampire]

It's strange how stupid the admin can be at a learned institution. I hope the rapist is caught and punished and that the victim(s) can recover mentally.

[Terralthra]

There a reason part of the quoted text is green and hard to read?

[Alyrium Denryle]

There a reason part of the quoted text is green and hard to read?

Some of it is my own internal commentary. Anything in Code tags, as opposed to quote tags.

[Alyeska]

There a reason part of the quoted text is green and hard to read?

Some of it is my own internal commentary. Anything in Code tags, as opposed to quote tags.

Care to format it so its easier for people to read?

[Purple]

I don't really see how any of that is difficult to read. Must be because I am using a different theme.

[Batman]

Either he reformatted since then or it's perfectly legible in Millenium Falcon at the very least. For me it's just middlin' dark green text on a white background?
EDIT: Um-perfectly legible under ALL board themes (at least as available to me at any rate), the only even borderline problematic one being Bare Bones and that issue was font size, all were reasonably dark green text on white (or light enough to make no difference to me) background.

And what's the big deal about the delay? Were talking not quite 11 hours here. You're acting like the uni were actually in a metropolitan area or had police patrolling the campus at night or something.
Oh wait.

[Terralthra]

On bare bones, it's in a medium green on white background, in a (different) small font. At 1920x1200, it's squinty to read, even with a reasonable browser zoom applied.

[Kuja]

Police are investigating a report of sexual assault said to have taken place Saturday in the Life Science Building.
The report was made by phone at 3 a.m. that day, university spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan said. Police were dispatched at 1:53 p.m. that day, according to the police report.

This is fucking ridiculous. I am in the building at night on an almost nightly basis (not that night, but most nights). There are police who patrol campus at night, diverting one of them to do something as basic as securing a god damn crime scene before literally everyone who works with vertebrates in every department the university has uses that god damn wing of the building, is not a difficult thing. Holy Crime Scene Contamination, Batman!

Attempts to reach Sullivan about the difference in time were unsuccessful.

Given that this person is the source of the rest of the information, I imagine that this was intentional, given that level of incompetence.

The report states the incident occurred in Life Science Building Room 583.
Room 583 is located on the fifth floor in the animal care area. Access to the room can be gained by swiping a MAV ID card. A sign and card swipe access pad by the door states “Entrance is for authorized personnel only and those who enter must display an ID badge at all times.”

Provided the person who committed the rape used an access card, rather than blitz attacking someone at night, this should be pretty simple. At 3 AM there are all of five to nine people in the building. Janitorial staff, often me, maybe Dr. Chippindale, and perhaps 1-2 other graduate students. All access data is logged.

Police have not made public whether the report involved students, faculty or staff, or whether those involved were male or female or if they knew each other, Sullivan said. The university is not releasing any additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.

“They just haven’t, they’re in the middle of the investigation,” she said.

Sullivan didn’t have the number of people who have access to the room or animal care area and did not answer whether the room is a classroom, a lab or an office by press time.

Row after row of various sorts of animal cages and associated supplies and equipment

“I don’t have that information at all,” Sullivan said. “And there’s no way they would release that kind of information because it would be known to the parties involved. It compromises the investigation.”
Deans and assistant deans of the College of Science weren’t available by press time.

[Simon_Jester]

Part of the problem here is that it's an administrator's reflex to throw up big clouds of fog to avoid saying anything legally actionable. Factor in that university administrators are likely to be genuinely ignorant of the detail facts about a room in a science building, and... yeah.

[Broomstick]

I remember way back when I was going to college that the campus I was living on had a series of rapes at night.

Turned out the rapist was one of the security guards.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Part of the problem here is that it's an administrator's reflex to throw up big clouds of fog to avoid saying anything legally actionable. Factor in that university administrators are likely to be genuinely ignorant of the detail facts about a room in a science building, and... yeah.

See, I dont have an issue with the administration not releasing most of the investigation information. But 11 hours before police dispatch? No. There is no condition under which that is acceptable. Given that the report likely happened by way of either a cell phone, or one of the blue-light panic-boxes scattered around campus. It is not as if the victim intracampus mailed a god damn form. Then, when asked about it, they answer every question (and this had to have happened with multiple exchanges), except for the ones relating to the basic mechanics of an investigation like "what sort of room is this?" and "why did you wait 11 hours?". Even that first one, I kinda get, because that room is the room in which animals kept for various sorts of animal research are kept and there could be security concerns... but given the level of competence thus displayed, I would not be shocked if the campus police dont actually know, because they have not sent a forensics team into the god damn building.

It is also wednesday. The rape happened on saturday. Unless this was a blitz attack, there are cameras everywhere up there, and all access data for that room is logged. Twice. Individual ID Logged keycard access to get into that wing, an antechamber, then secondary access control, restricted to individuals who either perform animal care or have IACUC protocols for the animals housed in the facility. Additionally, after hours keycard access is required to enter the building.

So, even if there was a blitz attack at the door, with the rapist forcing their victim to let them into the wing and room, there are maybe five people in the building at that time at all, as most of the cleaning staff is gone by then. On a Saturday, likely fewer. That is a really really small suspect pool. The investigation should be easy. Easy as in "We have five people, their photos are on file. Compare photo to video footage. Done."

[RogueIce]

Well, not releasing details about the room could be deliberate. Most people are probably going to assume "classroom" or "lab" and only people who've been there would likely know any different. So if you get someone who hasn't been there (or who would've had no business being there) mentioning the animal storage, that's a sign they were definitely there.