Peeping tom incident prompts new key system

April 26, 2010, 1:04 a.m.

At 8:55 a.m. Sunday morning, an unidentified male intruder tried to peek into a Granada shower while a female resident was showering. The unknown male left after the victim screamed.

It is suspected that the peeping tom entered the West Lag residence through a second-floor breezeway. The male suspect was described as having “copper skin,” sporting a black beanie and a black sweater.

The Granada staff immediately notified residents about the intrusion and called the police, who were on site within two minutes, said Resident Assistant Rachel Dowling ‘10. The RF later alerted residence staff across campus about the incident.

“The police were truly wonderful and very assuring,” Dowling said. “They took every precaution possible and collected finger prints, as well as swept the area for any signs of the perpetrators.”

In an e-mail to The Daily, Stanford Police Chief Laura Wilson said, “In this case, we felt that the student population had been notified through informal, yet potentially effective channels, so the decision was made not to utilize the AlertSU system to notify the community about this crime.”

The incident, however, was not the first peeping tom disturbance on campus this academic year. Responding to these developments, West Lag will install a key system for the women’s and men’s showers. Although locks are already in place, they have not been utilized in the past. Student Housing is set to re-key the showers to prevent further disturbances from occurring.

“In addition to the shower locks, we asked Housing to add locks to the second floor breezeway between Eucalipto and Granada, which might have been a security weak-point in the past,” Dowling said.

“We are urging all residents not to let strangers into the dorm by following them in, and to ask strangers who they are visiting if they see someone unusual in the halls,” she added.

-An Le Nguyen



Login or create an account

Apply to The Daily’s High School Winter Program

Applications Due NOVEMBER 22

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds