University boosts patrols after a spate of assaults

Cal State Long Beach, beset by a series of assaults on female students over the last four weeks, is increasing security across the campus while urging women to take precautions so attackers cannot target isolated victims.

“The campus has always been safe, and we’re working very hard to get it that way again,” said Toni Beron, a university spokeswoman. “We’ve been working very hard to make these attacks as public as possible.”

Since Oct. 21, four women have been assaulted; in each case, the woman was walking by herself. Three were attacked by a lone male, while one was assaulted by two men.

The description of the assailants has varied, from pudgy with light brown skin to thin and white with a buzz cut to an attacker with a ponytail. But Beron said it was difficult to tell how many people were involved in the assaults.

“It’s possible we’re looking for four or five individuals, or we may be talking about people who committed multiple crimes,” she said. “In some of the assault instances, there were similarities, and there also were dissimilarities as reported by the victims.”

All of the incidents took place in the evening, the most recent occurring Wednesday when two men attacked a female student as she walked back to a campus parking lot from a nearby convenience store. She was able to fight them off and call for help.

In the Oct. 21 assault, an attacker grabbed a woman walking on Earl Warren Drive and pulled her to a path next to a nearby flood control channel, where he sexually assaulted her.

On Nov. 8, a woman walking on the physical education road was grabbed, but she screamed and managed to escape. Then, on Sunday, a woman was attacked at the south turnaround off 7th Street. She was able to fight off her attacker and escape.

Beron said school officials are asking students to program their cellphones with the number of the university police -- (562) 985-4101 -- in case they are attacked or see something that is cause for alarm. Long Beach police also will step up patrols.

In addition, the university has doubled the number of night police patrols and extended the hours for the escort service to help students walking from place to place on campus.

Beron said a private security firm has been hired to patrol residence halls and adjacent parking lots. And female students are being strongly encouraged not to walk alone or work out on the track by themselves.

michael.kennedy@latimes.com