Campus-wide alert leads to arrest

By Philippe Boutros, Staff Writer -- boutros14@up.edu

Last Friday,  two trespassers were detained at The Commons through an operation coordinated by Public Safety and the Portland Police Bureau.

"We were working closely with Portland Police," Harold Burke-Sivers, Public Safety director said. "One of the individuals that we apprehended at The Commons was actually in possession of a valid female student's ID card, and I doubt that he was there to return it."

Events began to unfold Wednesday, Jan. 19, a little before 5 p.m. at The Cove, according to UP's Daily Crime and Fire Log. Two students reported being harassed by three males, which led one of the students to call 911 while alerting Public Safety.

However, the trespassers left campus before Public Safety was able to arrive at the scene. After getting a description from students, Public Safety sent out a campus-wide alert via e-mail.

"These individuals should be considered a threat to our community," the e-mail from Burke-Sivers said.

"Students came forth with information, which led us to check the security camera footage from The Cove," Burke-Sivers said. "Because of that, we were able to ID them, and we brought in Portland Police. We analyzed the video footage and the 911 call. Finally, we put together a plan." That included sending out the all-campus e-mail alert with the suspect descriptions the student gave Public Safety.

However, the video from The Cove showed just two men, not three. It's not clear why the student described a third suspect.

"There was no third individual, as near as we can tell," assistant director for Public Safety Steve Watson said.

Friday night around 9:30, another student noticed the two men in The Commons and called Public Safety.

 "I saw like 10 police cars outside when I was eating my pizza," freshman Ethan Barnes said.

Rahsaan Hatton and Jernail Edwards were apprehended at The Commons by Public Safety officers, engaging a quick response from the Portland Police Bureau. Edwards was arrested and charged with harassment.

"Jernail Edwards touched a student's wrist and made comments about her looks," Watson said. "Both were permanently trespassed, which means that they will be subject to arrest if they come back to campus."

 "They said that they were getting coffee and going to see a friend," Watson said, "but in reality, I have no idea what they were up to."

Jernail Edwards is from New York and both men had previous police interactions off campus, according to Burke-Sivers.

Portland Police arrested Edwards at 10:14 p.m. Friday and charged him with harassment, a Class B Misdemeanor. He was booked into the North Precinct's jail at 11:39 p.m. and was released the following day without bail, according to Multnomah County jail records.

The initial campus-wide security alert provided little information on why the three males mentioned were considered a threat, listing only the suspects' physical descriptions, including race, age and their clothes. All were described as "black males."

Some UP students expressed concern about the descriptions in the alert.

  "I wondered whether racial profiling was a factor," freshman Hayley Moore said.

"It is racial profiling like this that leads to racial stereotypes and makes minorities and people of different backgrounds not feel safe in and around their own neighborhoods," Pedro Jimenez, a junior, said in an e-mail to The Beacon.  "I have been a victim of racial profiling, and it is something we as a community should try to stomp out, especially this being the week of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday."

The Department of Public Safety also received e-mails accusing the department of racial profiling in this situation.

Burke-Sivers, who happens to be African-American, dismissed the allegations.

"Am I not supposed to put in a description if they were white or Hispanic? I put in the description that students give us," Burke-Sivers said, adding that Public Safety uses "threat assessment, not profiling," in order to determine what course of action to take.

Burke-Sivers said the e-mail alert was intentionally vague in order not to create "a situation of panic."

"Putting less information and not more was actually helpful in this situation," he said.