Violent Crime Wave in Downtown Tempe, ASU, and Tempe Town Lake Original Article ASU, Tempe police form task force to stop robberies 9 incidents have occurred near ASU in the past month by Shea Drefs published on Friday, April 28, 2006 With nine robberies occurring in Tempe over the past month, ASU and Tempe police are joining forces to prevent more from happening. The two departments recently formed a task force with representatives from their investigations, patrol and crime prevention units, said Sgt. Jim Hardina, special investigations supervisor for the ASU Department of Public Safety. Tempe police are handling the majority of the investigation, Hardina said. "What we're doing is a coordinated, directed patrol response," he added. DPS has organized nightly patrols and instructed the officers to target the areas where most of the robberies occurred, Hardina said. The patrols stretch from Mill Avenue to McClintock Drive between University Drive and Apache Boulevard, Hardina said. "Officers ... are directed in those areas for the sole purpose of being visible in order to prevent more robberies," Hardina said. Hardina added that the patrols take place between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. since the majority of the robberies happened within these hours. Tempe police have also increased the number of officers patrolling high-risk areas at night, said Sgt. Dan Masters, spokesman for the Tempe Police Department. Meanwhile, detectives are studying the trends of the robberies, Masters added. The detectives have placed the incidents in two groups, he said. "One is suspects -- black males -- using handguns to commit robberies," Masters said. "The other ... is a group of white and/or Hispanic males using a baseball bat." One of the recent incidents does not fall into either category, Masters added. On April 17, a 19-year-old woman was robbed of her belongings after she was punched in the face, Masters said. No weapons were used. Despite this discrepancy, all nine of the robberies have several characteristics in common, Masters added. "All the victims ... are in their 20s," he said. "They happened around campus. Robbery has certainly been the motive. The target has been personal property." But detectives are unsure if the two groups of robberies are related, Masters added. "It certainly is possible," he said. "But there's nothing to establish that." Reach the reporter at shea.drefs@asu.edu.