Woman says she survived sexual attack at Valleyfair

I have to say it's a sad commentary on the state of affairs when something like this is reported, and then people (reasonably?) question the validity of the account. There was a time not long ago when it would have been considered inhumane to doubt the account. One of the very few times you'll see me wistfully look backward in time. I have an enormous amount of sympathy for Karly, or others, who go through something tlike this, only to have people question the validity of the story - and I hope the perpetrators are caught and brought to justice. Falsified reports of incidents ARE all too common though, and while it's easy to say that those who make up stories should be punished severely, most times they turn out to be people with emotional/psychological problems far worse than the threat of some jail time.

This is an extremely disturbing incident for me to hear about as it is my home park that I have visited frequently - last weekend in fact. My 14-year old daughter has gone to Valleyscare several times with her friends this year. It scares the crap out of me to think they could have potentially been in danger. This incident, together with the assault that happened in July, make me reconsider if it is safe for the girls to go to the park unless there's not a parent constantly with them - not exactly what teenagers want. I did notice that there were more security in the park this past weekend, prior to my hearing about this assault. With these two publicized assaults this summer, Valleyfair will have to spend more money on security. So much for Minnesota Nice. :(

Judy, since you know the victim, perhaps you can shed some light on the confusion. I'm trying to figure out where in the park this occured. By the description, I would guess it was by the train tunnel as someone else suggested. I find that hard to believe because that is close to most of the major attractions and would be filled with people walking by. I suppose by-standers just thought it was some kids screwing around and didn't realize that an assault was taking place.

No one is doubting the girls honesty. Not one person said she made it up. I and others are just trying to have a better understanding of what happened. I like to know so I can tell my wife how to avoid the same set of circumstances. I believe this woman was attacked. It has all the earmarks of a true account. It seems if anyone asks questions they are labled as uncaring and nonbelievers. It's human nature to want to know what happened. If some think I or others have been bad, I hope you don't go to court with her when she gets cross examined by a defense attorney. What exactly is wrong with wondering how this all went down? I think its a sad state when we no longer can ask how something happened. How else can we learn to protect ourselves?

^Winston - take a deep breath for a second. First post out of the gate says "I sure hope this isn't a scam." NOT picking on Hopman, or you, or anyone that *suggested* that the story is missing some key elements. On the other hand, the police need to be able to identify real witnesses from people coming in with BS stories in an attempt to garner some fame or whatever. They also need to have some facts kept between the victim and the police to be able to ID and convict the perpetrators. But after the sad girl and her attack by the Obabma supporter who writes 'B' backwards, and the hundreds of similar stories, it's not entirely unreasonable to have doubts either.

I am not all that familiar with the park, so at this time, I can not clearly state to you which part of the park the attack happened.

As for security, I believe that they hire high school and college students. Although many may have good intentions, what would they actually do to protect the public should there be a situation involving a knife. I'm pretty sure that the police would be called into handle the situation instead of putting these students in harms way. It is not like they are hiring security firms who may have dealt with theset types of situations. Seriously, for $8.75 and hour and 60 hours a week during the summer season, why should they risk their lives, they should not have to. They are mainly there to make sure that their presence is known with hopes that serious crimes are not committed.

Many times, situations are mistaken for a domestic situation and people do not want to get involved. I can not speak for those who ignored the situation as to their reasons. But too often this is the case. Even Police will tell you that domestic situations can be very explosive and they find it difficult to handle and very unpredictable.

When we are out and about and a parent slaps a child, majority of people will do nothing as they do not want to be involved. How about when you see a vehicle driving but it does not look appear to be a drunk driver. Do we call 911 because they are driving slightly sparatic but have not caused an accident nor nearly hit anyone? Too many times, we do not. It's hard to say what will happen 5 miles ahead, but because nothing has happened, we do not call and assume that they are fine, maybe distracted.

And yes, there is also the possiblility that those who came upon the attack and did nothing may have thought that it was just some people goofing around all in fun, why not think that, they were at a haunted house. It's not unusual for people to be goofing around and having a fun time. This just was not one of those situations and how do we determine which is fun and which is an attack?

So you mention that you aren't that familiar with the park, JudyMae. Where does your information about park security come from?

Indeed, you make a lot of assumptions, which is very much the problem in the first place.

I know or have met a great many people at Valleyfair, and there's little question in my mind that they do a great deal to ensure the safety of their guests. Making assumptions that suggest otherwise is not responsible.

Valleyfair definitely needs to get a handle on the issues in the park this year. They have had multiple high profile incidents in the park, and are hopefully planning on implementing changes for next season. If I had to make a suggestion it would be to implement a more robust camera system in the park and to hire more and better security officers. As others have mentioned here, the majority of their security staff are young students, and few have much if any intimidation factor. I think they need to hire a more professional force of security guards (If that is even possible ;-) ) and to augment them with some off duty cops/sheriffs around the park. Currently, to my knowledge, police are only on the property at the park when responding to calls for service.

Unfortunately, one trade off with halloween events is the crowds they generate. Many parks have to implement special security procedures during halloween to try and keep the notoriously unruly crowds under control (See: Metal detectors at USF, and no-reentry after 7pm at SF) Valleyfair may be next with something similar to at least make the hooligans feel like there is a security presence there.

The numerous incidents this year, along with smaller things such as the most poorly enforced no smoking policy of any park in the country, and the lack of enforcement of the dress code show that the park clearly has some issues controlling it's guests. The park needs to step up and make some changes before it's image gets tarnished more in the media and in people's minds.

Carrie M ~

My information regarding Valleyfair's security comes from their website as to the job description combined with some comments that were made by Valleyfair staff on the Kare11 site.

I have been there, however, it is not a place I choose to frequently visit. Valleyfair is a great family place, however, I do feel that their security needs to be tweaked.

It's a great job for the high schoolers and college students, 60 hours a week at 8.75/hr is great money. Their presence can stop from things from happening, it's the more serious stuff that happens there that requires stronger security measures. When we attend events at the Xcel and Target Center, their security staff is usually made up of more that high schoolers and college students. Valleyfair needs to do the same.

If you were the victim of an attack, what would you expect from security?

JudyMae said:
If you were the victim of an attack, what would you expect from security?

Are you asking me this question? Whether for me or the general population, I seriously hope you are asking it rhetorically.

Security doesn't insure anything. Bad things will still happen. While I understand that there's an emotional reaction that you will have to the attack, it doesn't mean that the park hasn't made reasonable accommodations to make things as safe as possible. Furthermore, the fact that there are so many questions left unanswered about the specific situation make it unfair to suggest that the park needs to do anything. Random action that doesn't respond to specific conditions will not result in a safer situation. It's like suggesting bubble wrap for coaster passengers in response to one passenger getting a rash. There is no explicit connection.

OK... so here's the thing I learned that the article isn't clear about. She waited to report the incident almost a week. That explains why Valleyfair doesn't have much to say. How would they know it happened? How do you catch the bad guys?

I also learned that police have been in the park every weekend of the haunt festivities, so I'm not willing to concede that security is lacking there. I know I saw them roaming about the park when I was there.

Again... what are the missing pieces of this?

A week?

Kinda hard to even think of trying to catch the culprits, let alone truly figure out what happened and the circumstances around it...

Jeff said:
I also learned that police have been in the park every weekend of the haunt festivities,

Jeff, I'm confused on this. My understanding was that VF had it's own security and local police are only called into the park when VF calls for help. Are you saying VF increased its security by adding local police for the added crowds for the Haunt? Or has there been so much trouble at the park this month that the Shakopee police are repeatly being called in? Just trying to understand.

Scott

They were invited in, as far as I know. When I saw them, they weren't on a specific task, just patrolling on foot as you would expect. Hardly seems unusual to me, I would assume they'd be there on any crowded day.

Just about anyone can "hire out" local police as long as you are willing to pay for them. I know of other amusement parks that do the same, its easier and quicker then hiring your own. Plus if you know you are going to be calling the police a lot, it just makes sense to already have them there. Its pretty much the same as a sporting event, they hire officers that want the extra hours/pay.

Shakopee Police were once again in the park today with two officers just patrolling on foot. They also had their big marked SUV parked on the entry plaza near the hearse.

While the police may have been in the park for Haunt, I still contend that this is not how things were in the park previously. I say this statement based on extensive observations, and (I believe) an article about the beating that occurred in the park earlier this summer. The article (again, IIRC) stated the fact that VF had it's own private security and police were on hand only when called for assistance.

I'm happy to see more "force" available in the park and hopefully this, as well as other changes the park can work on over the off season will help make the park feel safer and keep it out of the media next season!

What difference does it make how things were prior to the haunt? This isn't about an incident that happened prior to the haunt.

Well, yeah, I'm with Jeff on that. I'm also scratching my head about this sudden expectation that community police officers are expected to be present at the park at all times.

What if that were to be the expectation anywhere an attack can happen? Wouldn't that mean police would have to be everywhere?

^ Exactly. Then if an episode happens somewhere else, people complain that the police were too busy patrolling that "private" park, and weren't available to the protect the public at location X.

I don't know why it is that whenever something bad happens to a person at a park, inevitably someone who knows that person shows up here with a chip on their shoulder. Obviously, they google the event and the link to the article here shows up. But as terrible as what allegedly happened is, nobody in here can do anything about it. And if someone wants to come here trashing amusement parks in general or a certain park in particular, do they really expect to find much support?