Is it wrong to assume that the Department of Public Safety should have University students’ and faculty members’ best interests in mind at all times? It seems like this would be a logical goal for a university campus police force to have. The DPS website proclaims that its “staff endeavors to ensure safety and to protect life and property at the University.” Judging by the state of campus security recently, one has to wonder if this is really true.
Last week, Director of DPS William Tucker said he would ask the Metropolitan Police Department to patrol more heavily in Burleith. According to Lt. Brian Bray of MPD District 2E, though DPS does not have jurisdiction in the area, DPS officers are permitted to patrol the area at any time. In light of this apparent discrepancy between MPD and DPS jurisdictions, it seems like this is an issue which needs to be clarified immediately for the welfare of those Georgetown students who live in the Burleith area and who cannot avoid walking home at late hours.
Putting aside the absence of DPS or MPD officers in Burleith, the striking lack of DPS presence on the entire north side of campus also needs to be addressed. The area beginning from the Darnall dormitory, past the now-under-construction St. Mary’s Hall, leading up to Reservoir Road is not only poorly lit, but there is also never an officer in sight?no matter what the day, no matter what the hour. Surely DPS could spare an officer or two to patrol this side of campus. The sheer number of muggings in the area surrounding Reservoir Road in the past year should be reason enough for DPS to realize the desperate need to focus on this area of campus.
Yes, the lone blue-light emergency call box next to St. Mary’s provides students walking home with a fractional degree of security, but more can be done to handle this situation. Students are encouraged again and again to make use of the SafeRides program, which in theory is an excellent program, but in practice, fails to provide students with the services that they need. An escort service that takes at least 20 minutes to respond to a call is an escort service that clearly is in need of more resources. Presently there are only two SafeRides vans. Compare this to the more than 6,000 undergraduate students at Georgetown. There is only so long that even the most patient studens can, and will wait before taking their chances down the dimly-lit roads of Burleith.
What, then, can be done to increase student off-campus safety? Perhaps it is too idealistic to think that the number SafeRides vans would multiply significantly in the near future. Here are a few alternative solutions: First, the University needs to add more means of light on the north side of campus. For the first month of this school year, the lights in the parking lot adjacent to St. Mary’s were not on, making students feel unsafe walking even before they left the main campus grounds. Second, DPS officers need to patrol the north side of campus every night. Third, DPS needs to make sure that its phone lines are consistently open. 7-HELP is not very “helpful” if the caller is confronted with a busy signal for the first three times he or she calls. If only one officer is going to be handling the phone line at a time, DPS needs to make sure that all calls are received promptly.
If DPS wants to be the respectable, responsible campus police force that it should be, significant changes need to be made now. Otherwise, students can look forward to reading yet another Voice article with the headline: “Student robbed in Burleith.”
