Temple University expands security zone around campus

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Temple students are now back in classes for the new school year and they're noticing some expanded security.

Police and medics responded quickly to a report of a woman screaming on 18th Street, four blocks from Temple's main campus.

The response included Philadelphia police, Temple police, and private security guards on bicycles.

Until now, the call would have been handled by city police alone.

But 18th Street is now part of the expanded coverage area for campus police and a private security force, hired by the university.

Temple senior Kaylin Christian lives on the block.

"When I first moved here we were curious if they were going to do that. There was a robbery right in this area. I think people really wanted them to start patrolling this area, makes us feel safer," Christian said.

The expanded security zone had been discussed for some time, but an ugly incident last spring gave it new urgency.

A group of marauding teenage girls attacked a Temple student, smashing her face with a brick.

The incident happened three blocks from campus.

"Prior to that we were talking about how far we should go, when we should implement, and then we had the incident and then we actually moved up the timeline quite quickly," Charles Leone of Temple University Security said.

Temple's crime rate isn't any higher than any other urban based university. But parents and school officials have become concerned as a construction boom pushes student rental housing deeper and deeper into surrounding neighborhoods.

The students who live in these neighborhoods say they welcome the new police presence even though they feel reasonably secure.

"I've been here for about two years, nothing really serious has happened to me. They have people on the bikes all times of night, so even I want to go to the Student Center and go home, I feel pretty safe," senior Asia Middleton said.

Temple police have investigated 103 incidents over the past two weeks. Many of them were thefts, such as stolen iPhones. There were only three incidents of crimes against person. A vast majority were related to a universal college issue of underage drinking.