The Boulder Police Department has increased nighttime patrols in areas where there have been a rash of sexual assaults on college-age women, authorities say.
Police Chief Mark Beckner and his staff reassigned officers to night shifts in the Goss-Grove and University Hill neighborhoods about two weeks ago, said Sarah Huntley, Boulder police spokeswoman.
Other police officers worked overtime shifts to greatly expand the number of officers patrolling the neighborhoods, she said.
Since the beefed-up patrols, no new assaults have occurred, Huntley said.
During the past two weeks, police made contact numerous times with college-age women, accompanying many on their way home, Huntley said. The officers also added lighting in alleys.
The department has assigned more detectives to follow tips, she said.
Six woman have been accosted by strangers in the two neighborhoods since Halloween, Huntley said. Four of the incidents included sexual assaults.
The investigations into those six cases are continuing.
In the most recent case, a man assaulted a woman in the early morning of Dec. 5, climbed on top of her and tried to strangle her, Huntley said.
She kicked the man in the groin and hit him in the face. She then broke free and ran to a friend’s house for help, Huntley said.
