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ikyrianIn the course of yesterday's fiasco, I learned something very important from Hillary, one of my housemates, and from my own observation.
The police system here sucks. A couple of weeks ago it took them over ninety minutes to get to a double homicide. By the time the police arrived, the people were already dead.
Last night, even though we called the police immediately when 151 was robbed, it took them exactly two hours to get here.
How's that for feeling safe, huh? I think it's absolutely ridiculous that it would take them so long to respond to a call. I mean, I know none of us was actually hurt, but the homicide thing is just as unforgivable. I know at home it wouldn't take them quite so long to get to a shooting or someone getting killed loudly and messily.
I guess we just can't trust the police system here to respond with any kind of swiftness. Which is a shame really. I wonder what would have happened if any of us had been hurt. If it took the police over ninety minutes to a homicide, would we have just had to try to find our way to a hospital if they didn't show up?
Another thing that bothers me about last night (and a lot of it does), is that we were unable to get in touch with Dr. Ivy and Mrs. Seaford. Those two are the ones who are supposed to be looking out for our wellfare (and the people we are supposed to contact in case of an emergency), and while it's important for them to have lives of their own, it would have been nice to get ahold of them in a time of crisis. I mean, we had Dr. Ivy's cell phone number for one weekend, and then he took it down, so we couldn't get ahold of him that way (which didn't matter because he didn't have his cell phone on him anyway). And while we had Mrs. Seaford's number, we still couldn't get ahold of her because it was either not with her or turned off or something like that. I hope that they will work hard to rectify this situation in the future.
The police system here sucks. A couple of weeks ago it took them over ninety minutes to get to a double homicide. By the time the police arrived, the people were already dead.
Last night, even though we called the police immediately when 151 was robbed, it took them exactly two hours to get here.
How's that for feeling safe, huh? I think it's absolutely ridiculous that it would take them so long to respond to a call. I mean, I know none of us was actually hurt, but the homicide thing is just as unforgivable. I know at home it wouldn't take them quite so long to get to a shooting or someone getting killed loudly and messily.
I guess we just can't trust the police system here to respond with any kind of swiftness. Which is a shame really. I wonder what would have happened if any of us had been hurt. If it took the police over ninety minutes to a homicide, would we have just had to try to find our way to a hospital if they didn't show up?
Another thing that bothers me about last night (and a lot of it does), is that we were unable to get in touch with Dr. Ivy and Mrs. Seaford. Those two are the ones who are supposed to be looking out for our wellfare (and the people we are supposed to contact in case of an emergency), and while it's important for them to have lives of their own, it would have been nice to get ahold of them in a time of crisis. I mean, we had Dr. Ivy's cell phone number for one weekend, and then he took it down, so we couldn't get ahold of him that way (which didn't matter because he didn't have his cell phone on him anyway). And while we had Mrs. Seaford's number, we still couldn't get ahold of her because it was either not with her or turned off or something like that. I hope that they will work hard to rectify this situation in the future.
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Date: 2004-10-19 06:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 07:06 am (UTC)It's never fun to be the victim of a crime.
Date: 2004-10-19 10:18 am (UTC)Can you guys DEMAND that the group have free self-defense lessons? I think that's something your parents could lobby for.
I'll tell Kira Lenhart, who works for the Sundial, about this. Hopefully she'll get in touch with you. Girls who are considering Reading should know the facts.
Re: It's never fun to be the victim of a crime.
Date: 2004-10-19 02:06 pm (UTC)While I am grateful for your concern and pleased that you're willing to let others know about what happened here, I would like for you to keep in mind that this is not a common occurance. Though this tragedy has befallen us, it is not too likely to happen again anytime soon.
That being said, it could really happen to anyone at anytime, especially those people who go abroad. While you should caution others that something like this might happen, you should not try to discourage other people who wish to go abroad. This should not be used as a reason for other students to not come to Reading or go to any other country they may wish to advance their schooling. I think it would be better to remind people that there are risks in traveling, as always, but to not let said risks deter them from realizing their dream from traveling abroad.