Rape at the University of Minnesota
Let's start with the story.
September 26, 2003Okay. Firstly, of course, sure: Let's not blame the victim. I mean, hell, she was walking somewhere on campus at 7:30 in the morning, presumably heading for an 8 o'clock class, when she was dragged off, at gunpoint, into a car.
Gunman abducts student near dorm>
By Stephanie Kudrle
An unidentified man abducted a University student at gunpoint outside Territorial Hall early Wednesday morning but later returned her to the University area.
The female was taken to an off-campus location at approximately 7:45 a.m., sexually assaulted and brought back to the University area, police officials said.
The suspect remains at large.
University police Capt. Steve Johnson said the case is under investigation, but he would not comment further.
Greg Hestness, University assistant vice president for public safety, would not say if the woman lived in the residence hall, only that she was walking outside Territorial Hall.
He also said the woman did not know her abductor, and he said officials have no way to connect the suspect to the residence hall.
"I don't know of another incident quite like this," Hestness said. "There are a lot of opportunists looking for women, but it's rare for the city of Minneapolis and rare for campus."
Wachen Anderson, judicial affairs coordinator for Housing and Residential Life, sent an e-mail Thursday to all staff and students in the residence halls alerting them to the incident and asking students to share anything they know regarding the incident.
Johnson said the woman did nothing wrong and the abduction appeared to be a random incident, which left some University students feeling uneasy.
"I can basically look out my window and see where it happened," said first-year University student Carly Natvig, who lives in Centennial Hall. "I just don't feel safe anymore."
Hestness said he approved a University-wide e-mail Wednesday and hoped it would go out that day, but many students still had not received the e-mail late Thursday.
Hestness said residence hall occupants were alerted earlier because they were closer to the area.
He said "a good, thorough investigation" is under way and said police have a distinct description of the vehicle, which he hopes will help identify the abductor quickly.
"The reason we're getting so aggressive on this is that we're concerned this is a stranger, and we don't want to wait and see until we have two, three more cases to act," Hestness said.
Natvig said she and her friends are still concerned about their daily safety.
"My friend goes to the gym every morning at 7 a.m., and she's like, 'I can't do that anymore,' " Natvig said.
Hestness said he was unsure whether University or Minneapolis police would increase patrols in the area.
Territorial Hall is occupied by first-year students.
Kole Hader, a first-year University student, said the abduction adds to an already rocky start to the school year.
"First the fire, then the abduction. ... It's a lot for your first month at school," Hader said.
The suspect was described as a white male in his early 20s with blond hair, a gray sweatshirt and dark-colored wind pants. He was driving a black SUV with no rear license plate.
Hestness said people with any information about the suspect or the car should immediately contact police at (612) 624-2677.
SAFETY TIPS
The University Police Department and Housing and Residential Life have identified some tips to help students stay safe:
Always be aware of your surroundings. Stay in well-lit areas. If you go out at night, use the University's escort service or walk in groups. Carry a cell phone and pepper spray. If you live in a residence hall or apartment complex, do not let strangers into the building.
That said, we don't know what would have happened if, instead of going along when a gun was pointed at her, she'd run. We don't even know if that was possible—for all we know, at the moment, she was grabbed before the gun was pointed at her, and physically overpowered. But if she could have run away, even with a gun pointed at her, not doing that was a mistake. It's a simple rule: never go to a secondary crime scene. Statistically, it's much safer just to run away, even if a gun's pointed at you. See this. When I was writing the book, I spoke to a couple of cops about this very issue. "The secondary crime scene," one said, "is where we usually find the body." She was lucky. Kind of.
No, I'm not blaming the victim. It's quite possible that she was never told that, and the idea of running away with a gun pointed at you isn't exactly intuitively obvious. Lots of things about self-defense aren't intuitive.
The other question—one that won't be answered until the perp is caught, if then—is the effect of the U's "no guns" policy as an attraction. Some things are intuitively obvious: criminals prefer soft targets. Just as multiple victim public shootings almost invariably take place where the victims are prevented from having a gun for self-defense, so it is with other assaults.
It's a very strict policy. The Minnesota Personal Protection Act permits the U to ban students and faculty from carrying on campus, even if they have permits, and the U does just that. It's lawful, if not particularly sensible.
But the U has gone further than that. On July 11th, the University Board of Regents passed what is, basically, an unenforceable ban on any civilian—even those with carry permits and are nonstudents—from carrying on campus. It's not been enforced, of course—it's basically a publicity stunt on behalf of the Board.
Great result, eh? The Board quite publicly assured predators that their erstwhile victims will be unarmed. Not a smart move. Imagine a different situation, where the Board had passed a resolution saying that it trusted their permit-holding students and staff to behave responsibly on campus, as well as off campus, and not only failed to forbid carry on campus, but encouraged it.
Would this still have happened? Maybe not. We'll never know; it won't happen.
But since you can't count on the U to watch out for your safety, you have to do it yourself. Let's try a more sensible sidebar:
Sure. Awareness is the key to avoiding trouble in the first place. Nothing wrong with that.Always be aware of your surroundings.
Yeah, but . . . this happened at 7:30 in the morning. At that time of day, everything is well-lit.Stay in well-lit areas.
Good advice, actually. The purpose of an escort isn't really to protect you, but to deter an attacker. And that's just fine—so is going around in groups.If you go out at night, use the University's escort service or walk in groups.
A cell phone is great, but pepper spray? It's utterly useless if it's in your pocket or purse—even if you get it out after being grabbed, you won't be able to use it effectively. Pepper spray is mainly used by police for pain compliance—if the handcuffed perpetrator resists getting into the car, it's both politically and legally a lot more defensible to give him a shpritz of pepper in the eyes than it is to bang him over the head. Doesn't leave marks. It isn't really all that useful for self-defense; the effectiveness of pepper spray is minimal if the attacker is highly motivated, or aware of it—an out-thrust hand can deflect the spray. And sprays are easily taken by the wind; if the wind is blowing the wrong way, you might well find that you've sprayed yourself.Carry a cell phone and pepper spray.
Even the FBI's victimization survey shows that if you're attacked, the single most useful thing to do is to produce a handgun.
Also reasonable. The real problem with the sidebar is what's missing. Let's add a few notions. (These are largely based on the work of Ken Pence, of the Nashville PD. See http://www.rateyourrisk.org. Some of these will sound strange, but they're all backed up by research.)If you live in a residence hall or apartment complex, do not let strangers into the building.
Let's get the gun stuff out of the way first.
And the thing that lowers your risk score the most?
Legally carrying a handgun.
Think about it.