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http://www.theprovince.com/news/high+alert+after+string+attacks/9069175/story.html
UBC on high alert after string of ### attacks
By Dan Fumano and Ian Austin, The Province October 22, 2013
UBC on high alert after string of ### attacks
UBC students walk in the fog at night in front of Totem Park near where one of the recent assaults on young women took place at UBC in Vancouver, B.C., on October 22, 2013
Photograph by: Steve Bosch , PNG
An autumn chill, unusually thick fog, and a tense, sombre mood hung in the air as Tuesday night descended on the University of British Columbia campus, with reports of a fourth recent attack — unreported to police — on the minds of students and staff.
The university community is on high alert after a string of ###ual assaults by an unidentified male on young women walking on campus.
Violence and safety have become an urgent topic of daily conversation for everyone on campus, said third year International Relations student Jocelyn Bussieres, but especially for young women.
Bussieres, 20, and her roommate used to go for early morning jogs through the wooded areas on the western edge of campus, near Wreck Beach.
But they’ve stopped, in the wake of the recent attacks.
“We don’t run in the mornings any more, especially with this fog,” Bussieres said. “I don’t really feel comfortable doing stuff like that any more.”
“Definitely, I wouldn’t even consider going to a party or something like that on campus,” she said. “I’m really happy I live off-campus.”
But getting to and from home has recently become a more frightening proposition for those living on campus — and for their loved ones.
First-year Arts student Sarah Vafaei, 18, lives in Totem Park residence — right beside where a male assailant recently groped and punched a 17-year-old woman, tearing her clothes and leaving her with a black eye.
“It’s scary,” said Vafaei, adding she’s nervous now to walk home from swim practice at 7 p.m.
But the situation may be even scarier for her parents.
Varafaei said her parents, who live in Iran, are frightened for their young daughter’s safety on the other side of the world. Her mother has recently been phoning her with increased frequency for updates and assurances.
“She’s scared, she’s very scared,” said Varafaei. “Big time.”
“It’s crazy right now. The fog makes it scarier.”
Worried students are using the university’s Safe Walk program in record numbers as the RCMP’s Major Crimes Unit has been called in to investigate a trio of troubling ### assaults.
Sign on to the UBC Alma Mater Society website, and the first thing you’ll see is a bright red banner — Don’t Walk Alone, Add It To Your Phone — advertising the Safe Walk program that’s grown five-fold in light of three weekend assaults on university students.
“Last night we had 56 people use the service,” said AMS communications manager Abby Blinch. “On an ordinary night it would be five to 10.”
But that was before a white man in a black hoodie — police believe it’s the same attacker — ###ually assaulted three young women.
Monday night the bolstered program added university vans to the program and extended its hours — the service is now provided from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
AMS student services manager Matthew Duguay said security personnel at the university’s main pub — The Pit — are instructed to phone campus security or Safe Walk if they see someone who’s had too much to drink to make sure they are safely escorted.
Meanwhile, the 17-officer UBC RCMP force — tasked with looking after 48,000 students (more than West Vancouver or Vernon, for example) — has handed over the investigation to the RCMP’ s Serious Crimes Unit.
“We are overwhelmed,” said an officer at the UBC detachment, referring media calls to RCMP spokesman Sgt. Peter Thiessen.
“That’s why Major Crimes took over this file,” said Thiessen, who said investigators have been told ‘the possibility is high” that the three reported assaults are the work of one culprit — all on the weekend, late at night, involving three young female students.
“We work with our police partners, and our non-police partners, to ensure the highest level of safety for the students.”