By Asia Fields
On March 28, University Police discovered that an earlier report of a man peering into stalls in a women’s restroom was actually a woman just listening to music in the restroom lounge. A Western Alert had been issued on March 5, but no update was provided to campus.
The Office of Communications and Marketing sends out the alerts in conjunction with University Police.
Paul Cocke, university director of communications and marketing, said follow-up police investigations are not appropriate for a Western Alert unless there is an imminent or continuing threat.
Cocke said the alert was sent because the reported person was seen as a potential threat. The reporting person said the suspect was trying to look through the cracks of the stall door from the lounge attached to the restroom, according to police records.
During the investigation, a University Police officer told someone familiar with the suspect (who did not want to identify them) that police would put out pictures of the suspect and call on the community to identify them if they didn’t come forward, according to the police report.
On March 28, someone familiar with the suspect told University Police the suspect is a woman who was embarrassed about being misgendered, according to the report. The person told police the woman was actually just listening to music on her laptop and accidentally made eye contact with the person using the restroom, as there was a large gap in the stall door.
The reporting person chased the suspect out of the restroom and took video of them as they ran away, according to the report. Police noted the suspect was wearing headphones in the video and concluded no crime was committed.
Cocke said University Police had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the witness report until further investigation.
“Prior to the message being sent, there was discussion of gender issues, particularly since this happened in a restroom, but it is important to note that Western Alerts are sent out quickly when there often is not time for complete police investigation,” Cocke said in an email. “In this case later police investigation determined the initial witness report to be mistaken as to the gender of the person in the restroom.”
University Police responded to a report of a suspicious person in the Environmental Studies building on March 5 at 1:39 p.m.
The Western Alert was sent out around an hour and a half after the incident, at 3:13 p.m., and did not include that the suspect was reported to be looking into stalls.
“By their nature and to be most effective, alerts are sent out as soon as possible after a report,” Cocke said. “Because of that sometimes details are fragmented, or not yet clearly understood.”
University Police emails show the officer who responded to the report did not email Cocke until 2:57 p.m., and said the delay was because he was dispatched on a felony contact.
Evelyn Hobbs, Associated Students Queer Resource Center coordinator, said it’s valid for a person to be alarmed if they think someone is committing an act of voyeurism. However, she said it’s odd to assume the person was not supposed to be in the restroom because of their perceived gender.
She said the gender of the supposed voyeur shouldn’t have been the alarming factor, and that this case touches on a bigger controversy about gender and restrooms.
“The controversy is almost entirely based on unfounded fears,” she said about discrimination against people who do not appear to conform with the gender of the bathroom they use.
Hobbs is concerned about the discrimination faced by transgender and gender non-conforming people who try to access restrooms on campus, most of which are gendered.
“It can be awkward to play that sort of game that’s like, ‘What do I look more like today to not be hurt while I’m going to the bathroom?’” she said.
The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality found more than half of respondents said they’d avoided a public restroom in the past year because they feared confrontation. Around 30 percent of respondents reported avoiding eating or drinking so they would not need to use a public restroom, and 12 percent reported being verbally harassed in a restroom in the past year.
Hobbs also said she doesn’t feel Western Alerts typically provide students with much useful information, nor is there ever any follow up.
“The follow through on a lot of the Western Alerts is literally nothing,” she said.
She said it would help address student concerns and worries if the university provided updates on perceived safety threats.
Cocke said the university has been discussing how to communicate non-emergency information with campus not using Western Alerts, when asked if the university considered updating the public on the result of this case.
However, he said emails are poorly read, and too many non-emergency text messages would lessen the urgency to read Western Alerts.
“The University constantly reviews and seeks out lessons learned from all such incidents,” Cocke said. “The goal is to continuously improve response in order to provide the best possible safety and security to the campus.”
Hobbs said anyone who faces discrimination in restrooms can access the Queer Resource Center for support. Staff are in the office (VU 515) Mondays from 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesdays 12:30-2:30 p.m. and 3-4:30 p.m.; Wednesdays 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursdays 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Hobbs can be contacted at as.qrc@wwu.edu.