Oracle Online

The next day Safety and Security issued a campus-wide e-mail advising students of the incident and providing preventive measures. They advised students to travel in groups, stay near well-lit, populated areas and stay aware of current surroundings. In an attempt to eliminate possible hiding spots for attackers, Safety and Security has hired an off-duty St. Paul Police officer in a vehicle to patrol the areas around the campus in the late night to early morning hours.

“There’s not a whole lot a you can do, other than run away,” Merrick-Thompson said. With the majority of Hamline students living off-campus, the recent wave of muggings has caused anxiety among a number of students.

“It is weird, because it really is not a bad neighborhood. It is not a rich yuppie neighborhood but that doesn’t mean it has to be filled with crime,” Merrick-Thompson said.

In response to the recent crime wave, the Hamline-Midway Coalition is forming groups of neighborhood residents for large group walks aimed at rooting out the criminals who could lurk around the neighborhood.

“I guess now I am just angry more than anything else now,” Merrick-Thompson said. “I don’t think I should have to be scared in my own neighborhood and I refuse to be scared,” she said.