Royal Purple

Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News

A UW-Whitewater sophomore was sexually assaulted at the Colonial Quick Wash Laundromat on Center Street.

Whitewater is not plagued with robberies, murders or drug markets, which may lead students to live with a false sense of security Whitewater Police Chief James Coan said.

"Fortunately, we don't have a high level of violent crime in Whitewater," he said. "It's still sort of a small town atmosphere. But probably a great degree [of sexual assaults] is because we are a college town. The last thing students are thinking about is personal safety."

In 2007, 20 sexual assaults were reported to the Whitewater Police Department, an increase of two from 2006.

"It's one of the most heinous type crimes we deal with here," Coan said.

Sophomore Haley Smith told police she was sexually assaulted in September at Colonial Quick Wash Laundromat next to Topper's Pizza headquarters.

According to the incident report Smith provided police officers, a man touched her inappropriately twice before she ran out of the Laundromat.

The man told police he slipped on water and had to use Smith for support. He was arrested for alleged fourth degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct, the report said.

"Being in such a small town, I never thought I'd have to fear something like this," Smith said. "I felt safe enough to go do my laundry alone but now I think totally different and I don't really go anywhere alone now."

The university has separate statistics of sexual assaults that have occurred on campus.

University Police Chief Matt Kiederlen said that although it is hard to compare because of how many sexual assaults aren't reported, he assumes UW-Whitewater's numbers are about average compared to other universities.

In 2006, 11 forcible sex offenses were reported to the police department, the University Health and Counseling Services or someone like a resident assistant.

"I have heard what is referred to as the magic bubble syndrome where people believe that since they are at a college nothing bad can happen," Kiederlen said. "Unfortunately, that's just not true. There is not that additional security blanket that people might think of like in a high school environment."

The Sensitive Crimes Investigative Team was established through the Whitewater Police Department in 1994 to conduct thorough investigations of sexual assault, and crimes against children and the elderly as well as help victims through the process.

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