Most Georgetown students don’t pay much attention to the competing jurisdictions and administrative boundaries that run through the District of Columbia. Except for one: Live in Henle, and if you throw a party, your biggest worry is the Department of Public Safety. Live off-campus, and you’re dealing with the Metropolitan Police Department, known colloquially as Metro.
But this boundary could dissolve. The District of Columbia Council is currently considering an omnibus public safety bill that includes legislation to allow campus police in the District to share jurisdiction with MPD in the areas adjacent to campus. Many universities already do this-the University of Maryland at College Park, for example, has a campus police force that is permitted to patrol neighborhoods around campus and make arrests. Because of the current limitations placed on campus police in the District, they only have authority to make arrests if they witness felonies or “probable cause” misdemeanors, such as shoplifting or drug offenses.
With their off-campus impotence compounded by the fact that they don’t carry guns, Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety generally keeps to campus.
Students don’t. This may make it easier for us to get away with off-campus hijinks, but it also makes the neighborhood less safe. From the standpoint of would-be criminals, college students are easy targets. They are often careless, leaving their front doors wide open throughout the day and walking alone through otherwise deserted streets at all hours.
Clearly, students could do a better job at keeping the campus area safe. But the security needs of a student community are still fundamentally different from those of a neighborhood filled with families and young professionals. Giving campus police concurrent jurisdiction with MPD so that they can patrol the neighborhoods adjacent to campus will help prevent opportunistic muggings and robberies in the surrounding area, while freeing MPD to pursue other criminals. As Maj. Mark Sparks of the University of Maryland Department of Public Safety said, the issue is one of taking “responsibility for the safety and security in those areas that are populated by students.”
From the University’s standpoint, there are several trade-offs. Georgetown wants to axe the current effort to establish concurrent jurisdiction, citing objections such as cost, training questions, and the possibility that concurrent jurisdiction could be used as leverage against the University in zoning conflicts.
Of all of these, cost is probably the most overriding concern influencing the University’s decision. However, budgetary constraints cannot not be an excuse for failing to work out these agreements and fully protect students’ safety.
The University should at last take full responsibility for students’ safety, and help police the neighborhood.
