Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Spatial Analysis

Key Findings:
  • Seven of the twelve bomb threats were located at the Cathedral of Learning, the symbolic center of campus.
  • The perpetrators expanded into other buildings as time passed, but all remain University of Pittsburgh buildings.
    • Note: Carnegie Mellon University is nearby. Tighter security at this school may be the reason it hasn't been targeted, but if the perpetrators are Pitt students, it is unlikely they are familiar with the CMU campus, or have the proper access.
  • While Cathedral of Learning bomb threats were mostly found in men's rooms, all threats outside of the Cathedral were found in women's rooms.
    • Either one of the perpetrators is a woman, which is highly unlikely (statistically), OR
    • There is a single male perpetrator who is bold enough to enter restroom's, but not necessarily at a central, crowded building like the Cathedral of Learning. He goes into women's restrooms in "emptier" buildings on the outskirts of campus
      • In this scenario, it is also likely that the perpetrator began to see a ramp up in security at the Cathedral and expanded to other buildings
    • Finally, it is likely if there is more than one perpetrator, one of them could keep watch while the other wrote threats in women's restrooms. This scenario seems increasingly more unlikely as students are becoming more annoyed by the bomb threats, and thus more suspicious of unusual activity.