Ryn Gargulinski

Creativity on Fire

peeping toms

Tucson Peeping Toms on the rise, pun not intended

If you thought Tucson’s seemingly zillions of traffic cameras are an invasion of privacy, just wait until you hear about our Peeping Toms.

It’s been a busy year for Old Pueblo voyeurs, with peeping and privacy invasion crime statistics up from last year in a couple of categories. And with the arrest of one bold and brazen dude earlier this month who actually got down on his knees and looked up a woman’s dress in the middle of a home furnishing store, the trend doesn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon.

Ladies, it may be high time to invest in some granny panties.

A man was arrested as a suspect in the home furnishing store case after the woman notified police after the incident. But while it was going on, she had absolutely no clue, according to the Tucson Police Department press release.

The dude began following the woman around the HomeGoods store at 7170 East Broadway, the release notes, and when he noticed her attention captured by something in the shop, he made his move.

“The subject quickly knelt down on the floor behind the victim and while on his hands and knees peered up her dress. He was able to get back on his feet and walk away from her without the victim noticing his actions.”

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Tucson Slutwalk: Old Pueblo jumps on brazen bandwagon protesting Toronto cop ‘slut’ comment

Tucson is hopping on the Slutwalk bandwagon, a raucous-sounding trend that is sweeping parts of the Western World in response to an idiotic remark made by a Toronto Police Service Officer.

He said women should not dress like sluts if they want to avoid being raped.

Nice. And men shouldn’t dress like police officers if they’re going to make such inane statements.

The cop, Constable Michael Sanguinetti, made the remark back in January at a university campus safety event. The area’s local Excalibur newspaper reported he even prefaced his statement with something like “I’ve been told I shouldn’t say this.” Sanguinetti has since apologized, according to CBS, but he was merely disciplined and not fired from the force.

Meanwhile, people lose their jobs in a heartbeat for Tweeting they’re bored at work.

Although his apology was much delayed and the dude is still serving a community that he evidently neither respects nor understands, the Slutwalks are serving him a fine slap in the face.

They’ve already popped up all over Canada, England, at Arizona State University, California and Maine and one is scheduled in Tucson at 5 p.m. Friday, May 13 (today!).

The location is in front of the main Tucson Police Department station, 270 S. Stone Ave. While the location is prime for rallying against law enforcement, it does seem a bit unfair to Tucson cops. First off, it was a Toronto officer who uttered the phrase, not our Tucson men and women and blue.

Perhaps a more fitting location might be in front of a Canada Dry factory, although we do not have one. But there’s always the Consulate General of Canada offices, just up the block at 33 N. Stone.

The protest is also unfair to Tucson police because budget cuts have already cut down on manpower and patrols. With a Slutwalk scheduled for 5 p.m. on a Friday, either overtime will have to be scheduled to patrol the Slutwalk or officers will be pulled from their beat on the streets. This means fewer police out catching rapists, Peeping Toms, other sexual assault perpetrators and perverts who flash their privates at small children in supermarket parking lots.

Bet Constable Sanguinetti would say the kids were asking for it by dressing like sluts.

Those two minor TPD twists aside, Slutwalks are a brilliant way to bring attention to the backwards thinking that obviously still prevails that victims of sexual assaults are somehow at fault.

We would expect such a mentality, perhaps, from 1950s small-town America, but not from a Canadian metropolis in the year 2011.

Sanguinetti needs to get with it. It’s incredibly sad and surprising he’s not more knowledgeable about his own career field. If he were he would realize that a rapist will rape, a Peeping Tom will peep and predators will continue to sexually assault, harass and batter victims based on opportunity, impulse, obsession and mental instability more than anything else.

This includes their mode of dress. Even if they are, as Sanguinetti so delicately puts it, dressed like sluts.