Campus Safety Update

By Bill Lafferty

Dear Campus Community Member,

The Department of Safety and Security and Gettysburg Borough Police are looking for your assistance with respect to any information you might have regarding recent incidents that have occurred both on and off-campus involving an unidentified white male who has approached several young women from behind, grabbed and fondled them, and hurriedly left the scene on foot.

During the Spring 2004 Semester, Safety and Security received two separate reports from female students who were grabbed inappropriately by this unidentified white male. Both of these incidents occurred in the 100 block of West Lincoln Avenue (near the “pizza house”).

During June of this year, the police reported several similar incidents occurring within the Borough of Gettysburg. The police have subsequently released incident information and a composite to both the print and television media. These incidents did not involve students, but it is believed that the suspect is the same person.

This week, two additional incidents have been reported to the police and Safety and Security. The first incident occurred on Thursday, September 2^nd, 2004, at approximately 10:45am, on the sidewalk of East Lincoln Avenue. The second incident occurred on Sunday, September 5^th, 2004, at approximately midnight on Race Horse Alley near the 7-11 convenience store.

The suspect has been described as a white male, between 5’8″ and 5’10″ tall, thin to average build, late twenties to early/late thirties, an apparent shaved head or bald on top with very closely cropped hair on the sides and back of his head, tanned skin, brown eyebrows, and no distinguishing marks, tattoos, or facial hair. At this time, Safety and Security has no information indicating that this person is a student, but we suspect he may reside or park on Lincoln Avenue or Broadway.

Safety Suggestions: When possible; walk with a group of friends when traveling off-campus or when walking around at night; walk in well lighted areas; avoid alleys, paths, and/or dark streets; be alert to your surroundings; and when encountering someone who seems to be out of place or who exhibits inappropriate or unacceptable behaviors, be alert and try to mentally capture as much physical descriptive information as possible. This information will prove beneficial to Safety and Security and/or the police when conducting a follow-up investigation of the reported incident.

If you or someone you know has any information related to these incidents that could prove useful in our investigative efforts, we are asking you to contact us at 337-6912. You can also report information to Safety and Security anonymously by calling the anonymous tips hotline at: 1-877-706-2525, or by completing the anonymous tips form located on Safety and Security’s WebPages.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Bill Lafferty
Director of Safety and Security