December 14, 2016
Temple University's Campus Safety Services issued an apology Wednesday after a rushed crime alert described the attire of a suspect using the slang term for a tank-top.
According to The Temple News, the alert was sent to students just after 5 p.m. Wednesday in regards to an armed robbery that took place during a drug purchase.
Officials said three suspects entered a house on North 17th Street near Diamond Street in order to purchase drug paraphernalia. After a discussion with the residents, the suspects attempted to leave the home without paying for the unspecified paraphernalia. One of the three male suspects allegedly flashed a gun before they ran out with the item in question.
Police said the men were known to one of the people living in the house.
An initial description sent to students contained several typos and used the term "wife beater" to refer to a white tank top worn by one of the suspects.
“Unfortunately, with trying to get the description out quickly, some typos occurred,” Charlie Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services, told the student newspaper. “There was also the term ‘wife beater’ used to describe the shirt worn. This was totally insensitive and I apologize [for] its use in the text.”
In a corrected version of the alert, the three suspects were later described as a heavyset man with a Pottstown sweatshirt; a thin man with blond hair wearing a black jacket and a white tank top underneath it; and a man with a blue hooded sweatshirt.
