After a Wisconsin nurse was killed in a parking garage attached to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, nurses and other hospital workers said they have long worried about their safety arriving and leaving work — sometimes in poorly lit parking garages that usually lack security staff, according to an article on the USA Today website.
Their concerns are backed up by federal crime data. FBI reports show parking structures and lots are the third most common site of murders and assaults in the U.S.
In 2017, of 5,542 homicides (roughly a third of the homicides nationwide reported to the FBI that year), 378 happened in a parking lot or garage, according to the agency's figures. That’s more than at bars, gas stations and hotels combined.
One woman who has worked for many years at Froedtert Hospital said part of the problem stems from the fact that executives and administrators are not in the same situation. They have nearby parking and don’t typically come and go in the middle of the night.