The State College Police Department has received four reports of sexual assault in the past five days. The assaults occurred between April 8-12. All of the victims that reported were females of college age and all the college-aged males that allegedly committed the assaults were known to the victims.

Lieutenant Keith Robb spoke Tuesday about why he thinks these numbers increased. “We attribute a lot of this more recent up in reporting to the efforts of Penn State and the media to get the word out that, if you’re victimized, report it to the police,” he said.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and this increase in reporting comes weeks after Penn State held its Sexual Violence Awareness Week at the end of March.

Even though reports have increased, Lieutenant Robb described that speaking out is never easy. “It takes a great deal of courage to come forward,” he said. “Penn State University is here for you. It has services that will help you get through this event and do everything it can to make sure you get through this trauma.”

Although Penn State has increased its efforts to help students, it’s still believed the number of assaults are underreported. Robb said the four reports in five days may be a more accurate representation of the number of assaults occurring.

“These amount of sexual assaults in this short of a time period is pretty high for what we normally deal with. With the underreporting, it may be more realistic of what we are experiencing in this community,” he said.

With an influx of visitors expected for Blue-White Weekend, Robb advised people to make smart decisions. “We would encourage people to drink responsibility and look out for each other. If you go out, go out with friends and make sure everybody gets home safely,” said Robb.