Shoot the closest one first.

+1

Thankfully I live on the opposite side of campus (94/Erie) though this sounds like a mobile mob so maybe it doesn't matter. For practical safe travel in this area I'm a big fan of the blacked out fast bike. Turn off the lights, ride fast and in whatever part of the street is most convenient and only stop if you feel like it. A properly set up bike is silent, I can approach people from behind and they jump only when I'm 2 feet past them. Even so I guess I'm going to start bringing the full-size and maybe some mags on my circumcampular trips. Really, really pisses me off that this is the first I've heard of this. How can I prepare for such a specific (and relatively likely) threat if I am unaware of it?

Also, I would have had the opposite thought of your friend, "shank a bitch or two".

I think it's all ready been mentioned - call the media. Ask your friend to follow up with who the officer was and let is chief/media know. This can be figured out by the 911 call etc.

I work in the area known as bare a** beach by the river and was told years ago from a 2nd prec. officer to wait (if possible - tresspass calls in a park) until after midnight (?) when U police get off shift and they would deal with the problem.

I hope your friend heals fast and maybe justice will prevail

+1 on keep pushing this with the UofM police and use the media if necessary. This is the exactly the sort of this one would think should be getting publicized in the UofM's police alerts.

Yeah, I agree. However, the poor guy is afraid that somehow the school is going to stab him in the back for making a scene. I share his distrust of the school, but I do know that with such a large student body, it's hard to persecute an individual undergraduate. Also, I believe that most students have seen examples of the UMPD's incompetence, so it's not like anybody can say that his experience conflicts with the department's image on campus. So I'm encouraging him to get the word out. Apparently, he's been contacted by a reporter for a small paper somewhere in the suburbs who is interested in taking this on. I think he will work with the reporter to get something done. Also, I'm going to talk to some people and see if I can get someone who will write a piece for the Minnesota Daily. The problem is that not enough people pay attention to the Daily, so it would be preferable to go to one of the networks instead.

The Star Trib might make it a column.

I have an extremely low opinion of the Star Tribune. Would they actually take the time to report on this? I do have a connection to one of their writers, so I might ask her how to proceed with this.

The right columnist might. Ask Joel.

Does the Star Trib have any right columnists? I thought all they had were left columnists.

OK. I don't say much here, I mostly troll. I learn quite a bit from this site just by sitting back and "listening" to others, but this thread is starting to tick me off.

What I want to know is, if this part of town is so bad, why is everyone out at this time of night? Yup, I was once a young, naive college student too. I understand how this age group wants to have fun, so did I. I still do. But I knew the bad parts of town and campus, but I stayed away! Why must we continue to put ourselves in these situations? Why couldn't this young man have bought his soda earlier in the day, during light hours? Why does this young person have to ride his bike like he does? No lights? Are you not putting yourself in more danger? Why do young men have to always go pee down by the river after leaving the bars?

Are there no more house parties you can go to? At least you can crash there and not have to worry about walking home and being beaten, kidnapped or drown! Drink in your dorms! Yes, I understand that the UoM campus is dry, but my daughter went there, and she had lots of fun in her room, as well as others kids' rooms. There were also lots of house parties that she became familiar with.

Instead of being ticked off that the Strib didn't report anything, why isn't every one ticked that kids are being more irresponsible than we were, and that's saying a lot!

It was wrong of the police to give out bad information on not filing a police report. And, I'm so very sorry that your friend was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It sounds as if he was really thinking on the best way to survive his attach. I wish him a very speedy recovery.

nd

ndtish, with all due respect, are you blaming the victim ?
Must we fear going out in public ? Have we given the night to the bad guys ?

That's a ridiculous notion.

First, Dinkytown is not a"bad part of town." It's actually safer than a lot of Minneapolis. That doesn't mean it is crime-free, as we have seen,

Second, I find blaming the victim to be utterly despicable.



[No one said anything about being ticked at the newspaper, by the way. We're utterly PISSED at the cops for strongly discouraging making a record of the crime.]

Let me try substituting a few words and see if you still agree:

Instead of being ticked off that the Strib didn't report the rape, why isn't every one ticked that girls are wearing such provocative clothes?



I wonder if you mean "lurk" (read without posting) instead of "troll" (deliberately post provocatively to elicit a reaction). If it's the frst, that's cool. If it's the second, you'll find your stay here to be short.

Dinky town is the good part of town. The police presence there and nearby is significantly higher than anywhere else in the metro. As for the dorms being safe: Significant robbery occurs there too, as well as a number of unsolved sexual assaults by non-residents in the past couple of years. Where would you have us Bunker? As for the bike, my safety then depends upon me, no one else.

Yep. Because the only reasons for doing that are to:
(a) avoid having to more work, and/or
(b) avoid negatively affecting next year's enrollment numbers or driving away potential employees

If they're going to deny their students and staff access to valuable tools for defending themselves, they better be working pretty damn hard to help protect those students and staff. And as long as it's perfectly legal to be out and about enjoying one's self at midnight on a Saturday night on campus or just off of campus, it's not unreasonable to expect the police to help ensure that everybody is playing by the rules.