While a greater percentage of Georgetown University students are living on campus, the need for greater attention to off-campus safety issues remains as pressing as before. Just this week, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested a suspected armed robber who entered a second-story residence early hours of the morning. There have already been several muggings this semester, and there will doubtlessly be more before the year is over. Students may be partially to blame for criminals’ interest in looking for easy targets-we are constantly leaving our doors unlocked, our bicycles unchained, and our laptops visible-and we need to be more aware of the threat of crime. But it is also the University’s responsibility to pursue solutions that prevent students from becoming victims.
The recent proposal by the Georgetown University Student Association and the University administration to create a fixed route for one of the two SafeRides vans has the potential to greatly improve security for students who spend time off-campus and comes at a time when such improvements are becoming increasingly vital.
Under the current SafeRides program, phone-in requests by students who want to be picked up by a SafeRides van are processed in the order in which they are received. This makes coordinating several calls from different areas difficult and increases the time it takes for SafeRides to respond to pick-up requests. Also, students calling SafeRides have little sense for how long a van will take to respond to their request.
A fixed route would allow vans to move more efficiently through the neighborhood, without seriously cutting in to the waiting time for students using the service.
This system would also give students natural places to wait at night. Students are most vulnerable when alone, and a route system would give students natural places to collect to catch SafeRides. Meanwhile, those students who require a ride from more out-of-the-way areas will have an easier time getting a ride.
In the absence of extra funding, the University administration would do well to improve the current level of service, along with practical changes such as a fixed route service. Hopefully, the dialogue within the University community on student safety will continue to move forward at a reasonable speed so that suggestions such as the proposed SafeRides policy change quickly become reality.
