Graffiti prompts increased police presence at UW-Whitewater

Recurring graffiti featuring a crown and the word "soon" has some students and staff on edge at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the wake of this month's deadly school shooting in Florida.

It appeared again Friday, this time outside UWW's Center of the Arts. And while he does not believe it is a threat, Campus Police Chief Matt Kiederlen said Saturday he increased patrols in the building to allay the growing anxiety surrounding them.

"We have every reason to believe that this is a tagging name, not a threat," Kiederlen said of the graffiti, which has appeared on campus for months, but more frequently in the last three weeks.

"There's nothing from our campus intervention team, our intelligence or any of our social media monitoring revealing any elevated threat or concern for campus."

Kiederlen acknowledged the heightened fears about school shootings following the killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. He said he boosted patrols in response to that.

"There were people who expressed concern. And a large part of my job is to alleviate those concerns," he said. "It's good customer service."