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Peeping toms at USU? Here's help By
Tiffany Erickson Fanua Pikula, an education major at Utah State, got up in the middle of the night to switch off the light she'd forgotten to turn off in the bedroom of her basement apartment when she heard a noise. It sounded like someone had jumped off the porch, which was right next to her bedroom window, and was running off. After talking to her roommate, who had heard the same noise, she called the police and was given tips on how to avoid an incident in the future. Peeping toms have been a concern for many women at USU. Pikula had thought about the possibility, but never really taken any precautions. "Our [apartment] managers said that the girls who lived there before us had had problems with peepers so they installed a motion light on the other side of the house," Pikula said. She had thought that she was safe from any more incidents. "At the time, I always left my window open at night to let air through, I never thought that there would be any danger in it," said Pikula. "It's so creepy to think about it now. Who knows how much it happened before?" USU Police Chief Steve Mecham says the best thing to do to avoid peeping toms is to keep blinds closed, even if you are on a second floor. "Once we caught an individual who was in a tree using a mirror to look in to a higher floor," said Mecham. Mecham said individuals who have been caught often get a class B misdemeanor and fined anywhere from $150 to $200, and possible jail time depending on the judge. He said if women call the police immediately, they can saturate the area and often catch the perpetrator, but the best way to stop peeping toms is prevent it from happening. Resident Assistant Lara Fager, who has been an R.A for three years said that every year there is at least one peeping tom around campus housing. She tells her residents that the problem can be eliminated by just closing the blinds. She said that in the fall the incidents may tend to happen more often because students who are away from home for the first time aren't aware of the problem and therefore don't take the proper precautions. However by simply making residents aware she feels she can reduce the risks. "Don't put yourself as a target and you won't have the problem," Fager said.
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