On Sunday, December 14, 2003 at 1:45 pm, an RPI student was brutally attacked after being followed through the Beman Park neighborhood onto the campus. Residents are heartsick. As a neighborhood, we wish to tell this young woman how very sorry we are and that our prayers and thoughts are with her. This assault has also caused concern for residents because of apparent police disregard for the safety of residents who were not informed of the incident for over 48 hours. To inform residents, students, seniors, and families with young children that they should be alert and aware of a threat in their neighborhood is common courtesy, not to mention normal police procedure. Securing information as quickly as possible ensures the accuracy of that data. After 48 hours, people who may have seen and remembered something immediately have most likely left the area or would be less likely to remember specifics. Students were not warned until Tuesday morning, 48 hours after the attack and 24 hours after most students had left Troy for the holidays.
Police combing the area with noticeable tactical movements for days created a panic of phone calls between residents. If information had been conveyed to residents, it would have been more responsible than ignoring neighbors who questioned police presence. If a wild animal escaped, would residents not be told for over 48 hours? No communication was made by police to ease the neighbors worry created by police presence, nor protect the neighborhood from a reoccurring act. Neighbors should not be treated as if they are second class citizens unable to make rational decisions in securing their own homes or looking out for their neighbors.
The Beman Park neighborhood is a wonderful mix of long time residents, families with young children, students, and numerous religions and nationalities. Communication is extremely fluid among residents, and surviving urban blight a constant challenge. Students are a major part of the neighborhood fabric and the protection of these young men and women is as important to us as the protection of our own children. Crime is little to nonexistent. Over the past several months, community policing has diminished in the Beman Park neighborhood and across the city.
This terrible assault on a Sunday afternoon and the lack of communication with residents highlight the diminished strength of community police in Troy. Our community police officer should have been immediately informed of the incident. Knowing the residents and their normal activities is a major component of this policing philosophy. Our community police officer has developed specific information about our neighborhood over the years, which may have been very helpful to the investigation. For the neighborhood, his presence would have had provided a calming effect.
Over the past two years community policing has brought Beman Park residents a true sense of neighborhood. Its presence has brought about more interaction between neighbors and with the police department, code enforcement, and Department of Public Works. This recent occurrence has only highlighted the disregard the Troy Police Department has for its Community Police Unit. It is shameful to watch such an effective tool dismantled and neglected. Over 50 percent of Troy tax dollars go to public safety. When a police force refuses to utilize its finest mechanism, community policing, it is time for Troy residents to assess how their tax dollars are being spent and what they are getting in return.
Michele DeLair,
President, Beman Park
Neighborhood Association
