Upfront CRIME
Indecent exposures not a flash in the pan Recent exhibitionism in Palo Alto area raises questions about potential future crimes by Sue Dremann hen a man raised his shirt and pulled down his pants to a woman near downtown Palo Alto on Jan. 31, his act was perhaps shocking. But psychology and criminology experts say it doesn’t necessarily mean the man, if he did do the crime, will commit violent sexual crimes in the future. Recent indecent exposures in the Palo Alto area have concerned residents and law-enforcement officials alike. Police began making the incidents public in early January, when
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the flurry of flashing began. In Palo Alto, two men were recently arrested for the crime, one on Jan. 20 near Juana Briones Park and the second on Jan. 31. Two other incidents of indecent exposure occurred on Jan. 8 and 10, but no one has been arrested. The first offense is considered a misdemeanor, but each subsequent conviction is a felony, Palo Alto police spokesman Lt. Zach Perron said. It’s also a felony to enter a residence without consent and expose
Stanford ‘rethinking’ parts of El Camino plan
oneself. The perpetrator of a felony can be sentenced to state prison. California law requires convicted persons to register as sex offenders. Indecent exposure is the most prevalent sexual crime, accounting for one third of all such reported crimes, with the majority committed by men, according to the Journal of Forensic Psychiatry. Incidents seem to come in waves, according to Toni DuPont-Morales, a specialist in victimology at California State University at Fresno Department of Criminology. Some occur after other incidents are publicized, especially if the perpetrator is not caught. “Think of it from their perspective. This is exciting, and the chances of getting away with it are really good,” she said, noting the brief nature of flashing and the probability that victims won’t report the incidents to police. So what danger does a flasher pose? Researchers say there are a host of factors that predict the potential for more egregious crimes, including whether the offender corners or makes contact with the victim. Perron said flashers gain satisfaction from their action, but that other than that, it is difficult to generalize about their motives or future behavior.
Stanford University and developer John Arrillaga are revising their plans for Menlo Park’s empty car lots for a third time, according to project representatives. (Posted Feb. 19 at 2:02 p.m.)
California Avenue
Online This Week
These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news or click on “News” in the left, green column.
Stanford breaks national fundraising record Stanford University last year became the nation’s first university to raise more than $1 billion in a single year, according to a report released this week. (Posted Feb. 20 at 9:53 a.m.)
Palo Alto seeks regional cash for slew of projects Palo Alto’s elected officials have a hearty appetite for grant-funded transportation projects, particularly ones that involve bikes, trains and pedestrians. But last week, the City Council agreed that the latest staff proposal for a grant application goes a little too far and much too fast. (Posted Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m.)
Train strikes man in Palo Alto A 22-year-old Palo Alto man was struck and killed by a Union Pacific Railroad Co. freight train Monday night north of Churchill Avenue, a Caltrain spokeswoman has said. (Posted Feb. 18 at 11:35 p.m.)
East Palo Alto police seek witnesses to shooting East Palo Alto police are seeking witnesses to a shooting that occurred Sunday, Feb. 17, around 2:30 p.m. in the 600 block of Runnymede Street. (Posted Feb. 17 at 9:11 p.m.)
Meteor spotted Friday likely unrelated to Russia’s Bay Area stargazers caught a glimpse of a meteor over the Peninsula Friday night, Feb. 15, but it probably wasn’t related to the devastating meteor that landed in Russia nor the asteroid that flew by just 17,000 miles from Earth Friday. (Posted Feb. 15 at 9:22 a.m.)
Accused mall fraudster had assault weapon Palo Alto police said a man who allegedly used counterfeit credit cards to defraud stores at Stanford Shopping Center had a stash of illegal weapons in his Oakland home. (Posted Feb. 15 at 11:56 a.m.)
Congressmen: NASA Ames gave secrets to China The director of Mountain View’s NASA Ames Research Center is embroiled in what is either a scandal or a witch-hunt over accusations that secret rocket propulsion technology was given to China. (Posted Feb. 15 at 11:13 a.m.)
Palo Alto considers new gym near the Baylands A regional effort to calm the flood-prone San Francisquito Creek continues to evolve and expand, with Palo Alto officials this week agreeing to evaluate the possibility of including a new Baylands gym in the project. (Posted Feb. 15 at 9:56 a.m.) Want to get news briefs emailed to you every weekday? Sign up for Express, our new daily e-edition. Go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com to sign up.
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compromise between the two different styles. “I’m vehemently opposed to combining old and new,” Alizadeh said. “Keep it modern. Keep it consistent. Keep it new.” Board members had few bad things to say about the proposed furniture, though Popp urged consideration of other designs for drinking fountains and game tables and Lippert suggested a different design for benches — one that would make benches comfortable to sit on but not to lie on. Lippert also said it’s important to make sidewalks as attractive as possible to soothe merchants’ concerns about fewer driving lanes. “There’s a lot of animosity there,” Lippert said, referring to the lane reduction. “I think coming back with a really thoughtful approach in terms of how the sidewalk will respond to the pedestrian experience, as well as the parking, really creates opportunities for these merchants and for this area becoming the second downtown for Palo Alto.” The only wild card in the project is lighting. In recent months, city planners have been floating a proposal to install new pedestrian streetlights along California Avenue to comply with the wishes of area merchants. The Planning and Transportation Commission signed off on this latest change earlier this month, though several commission-
“Every suspect is different. In some cases, indecent exposure may indeed be a precursor for someone who may go on to commit a more serious crime. In other cases, the indecent-exposure event is the worst and/or only crime that person will commit,” he said in an email. DuPont-Morales, who has worked with offenders and victims, said extreme immaturity and “really liking that fear or surprise of the victims” characterize the psychology of offenders. Some experts argue that perpetrators have issues with control. DuPont-Morales agreed. Control and eliciting a reaction from the victim do seem to be part of the drive, she said. Some offenders seek out victims they think will provide the desired reaction. And timing also plays a role in offenders’ thinking. A study in the United Kingdom found that flashers committed their crimes in the early morning when people were rushing to work and didn’t have time to report the behavior. Crowded downtown areas were also favored, as were university libraries and small hallways, where there were opportunities for brief contact, DuPontMorales said. Many people who flash choose to deviate in other sexual ways, and those who rape are likely to have tried other sexual behaviors, DuPont-Morales said. But as alarming as indecent exposure might be, not all people who expose themselves go on to commit more serious crimes. An indication of the likelihood of violence is the person’s willingness to get close to
a victim, she said. Even without violence, any time a flasher chooses a child as his victim, it is dangerous, DuPontMorales said. One such incident occurred in Menlo Park on Feb. 1, and the offender has not been arrested. A man in a van approached an 11-year-old girl at around 7:45 a.m. and exposed himself near Ivy Drive and Windermere Avenue. He threatened to harm her if she told anyone about the incident, Menlo Park police said. DuPont-Morales said this kind of case is disturbing. “He had the capacity to grab. That is far more dangerous. ... He had the capacity to escalate very rapidly,” she said. A victim may be able to influence whether the incident might turn violent, however. Victims should not strike the flasher or swear at him — and it is not advisable to laugh, she said. The best protection? “The victim can protect themselves by moving on,” she said. Some flashing victims do feel psychologically harmed and may need counseling, DuPont-Morales said. While some people just laugh off the experience, others have considerable anxiety. Short-term counseling is usually adequate for most victims, but in the case of of a child, such as in the Menlo Park incident, “that little girl needs more than that,” she said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
ers said they were bothered by the fact that this aspect was not in the original proposal and is only now coming to the forefront. The new lighting structures are expected to cost around $1 million, bringing the total cost of the streetscape project
to more than $4 million. The council has not yet approved the lights proposal. It is scheduled to consider the issue, along with all the other proposed design elements in the California Avenue project, in early March. N
Thursday February 28, 2013 7:00 - 8:30 pm
A free “How To” workshop for Family Caregivers
at Avenidas Rose Kleiner Center 270 Escuela Avenue Mountain View
Understanding Early Stage Dementia with Grace Lee, LCSW Memory Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center and
Stefanie Bonigut, MSW Family Care Specialist Alzheimer’s Association
Please RSVP to 650-289-5499 Light refreshments will be served. Free professional care for your loved one is available so you can attend the workshop—just call us 48 hours in advance to make arrangements.
Quality Daytime Care for Older Adults
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