“I heard a loud sound-I was surprised it was so loud. My head hurt and I put my hand up there … I took my hand down, and it was covered in blood.”
Peter Fisher (CAS ‘07) is one of a growing number of students who know firsthand the consequences of crime in Georgetown. Since September, students, University officials, residents and local authorities have seen a noticeable rise in criminal activity on campus and in West Georgetown, as well as in much of metropolitan D.C. The constant flow of public safety announcements from the Department of Public Safety to your e-mail inbox is only a small portion of the crime seen in and around campus. Besides these more violent incidents, there have been a rash of on-campus robberies, local car thefts and ransacked businesses, as well as two shootings in the past few weeks. With thieves in disguise using dormitories as ATMs and gun violence in Village B, students are starting to ask questions: why this sudden rise in crime? What can be done?
Fisher’s violent encounter began last Thursday night the way many students begin a free night: at an unregistered party with friends and a keg. The door was open and 20 people filled the Village B apartment. Just before 1:00 a.m., a DPS officer came into the room and asked the students to quiet down. As he left, Rob McBride (MSB ‘07) said he noticed a “sketchy guy” standing in the corner near the door. It is still unclear whether or not the man knew someone at the party or if he simply wandered in.
“I took it upon myself to figure out what his story was-some people thought he was an undercover cop who came in with DPS,” McBride said. “We’re a tightknit group, and everyone backed into a corner away from this guy.”
The tall Latino man, wearing a large black jacket and sporting a black ponytail, appeared to be in his mid-20s, according to witnesses. He claimed to be a sophomore named ‘Mike’ who lived off-campus. Confused by the vague response, McBride said he hinted that the party was coming to an end and that ‘Mike’ should leave.
“He gave me this weird look, like, ‘Why are you interrogating me?’” McBride said.
‘Mike’ didn’t take the hint, and a nonplussed Peter returned to his friends to enlist the aid of his roommate, Danny Kenny (MSB ‘07). Kenny made his own attempt at subtlety but soon asked ‘Mike’ to leave directly, pointing towards the open door. Now angry, ‘Mike’ started shouting about fighting and demanding the two follow him outside, but again they told him to leave.
“He took two steps, turned, and threw a haymaker at Danny,” Fisher said. “I went after him.”
Four or five students in the room, including Kenny and Fisher, drove “Mike” out into the hall, pummeling him with their fists and knocking him to the ground. After he hit the ground the students backed off, according to some witnesses, and the man began to stand up.
“He pulled out a silver revolver,” Fisher said. “I heard a loud sound-I was surprised it was so loud.”
A bullet from the pistol grazed Fisher’s head and embedded itself in the wall behind him. Stunned, he turned back into the room with his hand on his head. When he took it down, he saw it was covered in blood. Witnesses reported that the hall outside was also painted in blood from Fisher’s head and Kenny’s nose, broken at the start of the scuffle. Meanwhile, McBride was back in the room, keeping guests clear of the incident.
“I heard the gun; I thought, ‘Are you kidding me?’” McBride said. “Then I heard ‘Somebody’s hit.’”
“There clearly has been a spike in criminal activity in the area around campus since the beginning of last semester,” David Morrell, University Vice-President for Safety and Security, said.
Both he and Director of the Department of Public Safety Darryl Harrison noted that the Metropolitan Police Department is reporting a rise in crime across the city, particularly in the Georgetown neighborhood. While there is no way to specifically identify the cause of the surge in reported crimes, officials have speculated about a number of causes, ranging from parole schedules to federal intervention.
Universities are traditionally targeted by criminals at specific times in the school year when there is generally easier access to dormitories, notably as students move in and over break periods, according to Harrison. This year’s spike was similarly timed but larger, with more thefts than in recent years. Harrison added that cycles in probation releases can also lead to more criminal activity, but that it is hard to be sure without more information from suspects.
“Answers come from apprehensions that we make and information that we glean from these subjects,” Harrison said. As of press time, no suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the major incidents around campus.
Another possible cause of the apparent crime wave is the repercussions from our federal neighbors in the District, according to Morrell.
“In September, the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level around the World Bank and saturated the area [downtown] with police,” Morrell said. Officials suspect that some criminals, scared away from downtown, may have moved further afield to look for opportunity. “We thought for a second that those people only came up here, but MPD says they went all over the city.”
The local Advisory Neighborhood Committee (2E) has also seen the effects of the swell in criminal activity. ANC Commissioner and student Brett Clements (CAS ‘07) noted an increase in crime in the area over recent months.
“Something that people on campus may not realize is that there has been a huge increase in robberies and muggings in East Georgetown-this is something that’s affecting the whole Georgetown community,” Clements said. “[Residents] are just as vulnerable as students are.”
However, some authorities believe that the perception of an increase in crime comes from a few violent incidents and not a statistical surge.
“You don’t feel like things are 30 percent worse,” ANC 2E Vice-Chairman Bill Starrels said. “Granted, when someone uses a gun in a street robbery, that ratchets it up a little.” Starrels believes that the situation will improve and is confident that police presence in the 2nd Police District, which includes the University and surrounding neighborhoods, will be successful in apprehending criminals.
MPD Commander Robert J. Contee, who oversees the 2nd Police District, agrees with Starrel’s perception.
“Any time you’ve had incidents, that always brings up fear in people, and because of the intense incidents, the perception is that there is more crime,” Contee said. “For me, one incident is one too many.”
Contee explained that general crime reported in the area had actually been decreasing in the last year, noting a 20 percent decrease from last January to this January. He did add, though, that the 2nd District Focus Mission Unit, a 13-man “trouble-shooter” team that works both in uniform and in plainclothes, spends most of its time pursuing cases in PSA 206, where there have been more crimes reported.
“I believe in any urban city there are going to be incidents that occur, but Georgetown is a safe place.” Contee said. “It’s the 26th day of January and we’ve only had three robberies-that’s good.”
Back in the apartment, McBride found Fisher holding a t-shirt to his head to staunch the blood. Trained in first aid by the Georgetown Emergency Response Service, McBride examined the wound and was relieved to find that the injury was relatively minor. Students called DPS and MPD, and soon both groups were on the scene along with GERMS. Fisher and Kenny were taken to the Georgetown Medical Center, where they were treated for their injuries and released later that morning. Fisher required several staples to close the wound in his scalp; Kenny broke his nose, as well as two fingers and sustained a ligament injury in his hand that will require surgery.
MPD forensic investigators recovered the bullet and the shell casing from the apartment the next day. In the aftermath of the incident, Fisher feels that what happened was out of the ordinary and that the University is doing all it can to keep students safe.
“It was a wake-up call that we need to manage the door better at our party,” he said. “It’s one of these things the University can’t do much about, either-you manage your own party.”
University officials first identified the surge in illegal activities in late September following a series of thefts in the LXR, Nevils and Walsh buildings and several violent muggings in the streets around the compound. The administration responded by locking down some of the compound’s entrances and increasing the security staff presence in the area.
At the time, Morrell told the Voice that the additional security would “send word to this community of criminals and to students that we are committed to having a safe and secure environment for our students so that they do not have to worry about themselves and their personal property.”
Now, though, he suspects that the plan may have backfired.
“We stopped the thefts in LXR, but suspects moved into Copley and Village A,” Morrell said. “We think that we’ve just displaced them. We suspect the cases are associated, and that a small group of individuals are perpetrating these crimes.”
The thefts continued throughout the fall semester, affecting students across campus. In November, a Resident Assistant in Copley discovered a strange man masquerading as a student in his basement room and confronted him until a DPS officer arrived, causing the suspect to bolt. Credit cards, wallets and other small valuables had been stolen throughout the building, as well as in Village A.
“These individuals know your habits better than you know your habits,” explained Harrison. “They have backpacks and hold conversations with students to find patterns and develop methods [to enter dormitories].” Morrell noted that the thefts are not “crimes of opportunity.” This group of individuals is suspected in many of the burglaries throughout the fall. None have been apprehended in connection with the incidents, though authorities note that some may have been arrested for other crimes.
“My roommate lost his television, his stereo, his DVD player and a graphing calculator,” Tyler Rogers (CAS ‘07) said. “I lost some cash and a Canon SLR Camera. All together it cost about $14,000.”
Rogers and his roommate, Dan Twomey (CAS ‘07), were among the victims of a strange series of thefts over winter break. Upon returning to their fourth-floor Village C double, they discovered that the locks had been changed. When they finally entered their room, they realized that they had been robbed, despite having locked their door before they left for break.
“There was no forced entry,” Rogers said. “I feel like there has to be something else behind it.”
Both Twomey and Rogers feel comfortable leaving valuables in their room while they are on campus, in spite of the incident, but both expressed concern about leaving valuables in their room over future breaks.
“I just don’t want to go through this again,” Twomey said. “I’ll be more careful.”
This new series of thefts over the winter holiday has left many officials perplexed. Five or six locked rooms in Village C were found to have items missing when students returned from vacation, in spite of the fact that gaining direct entry to the building would have required a special waiver. Harrison said that DPS has not ruled out the possibility that a University employee was involved. The Office of Risk Management will be compensating students whose belongings were stolen, which does not happen in most other thefts.
Although ORM could not be reached for comment, the ORM Director’s mission is “to minimize risks within the University, and recommend means of eliminating, abating, transferring, or retaining these risks,” as well as dealing with Univeristy liability insurance, according to its website.
Currently, three investigators on the DPS staff are working with MPD to interview students and locate suspects in these and other cases. In order to prevent crime, though, University officials stress that students must maintain habits to keep them safe on campus and off.
“It’s repetitive common sense things-lock your doors, don’t prop doors,” Harrison said. “Once word gets out [among criminals] that all you have to do is walk right in, that gets a response. Unfortunately, when there is an area that appears to provide success and easy access, that information is passed on and fuels the increase itself.”
Harrison and staff from DPS, University Housing and other offices on campus visited most University townhouses and apartments on December 22nd in order to assess their safety over winter break. They were dismayed to discover that many doors were unlocked after residents had left.
Other schools in the District see a similar amount of crime. Contee noted that crimes on college campuses aren’t “earthshaking” and fit into a known pattern.
“I don’t think students are as safety conscious as I’d like them to be,” George Washington University Chief of Police Dolores Stafford said in an e-mail. “Sometimes people behave in a manner that makes them more likely to be the victim of a crime, and students are no different.”
Sometimes, students even actively hurt safety measures. A locking doorway in the Village B building where the shooting occurred was broken on the day of the incident. Harrison suspects that students broke the door on purpose to allow themselves easier entry to their own building, although it is not clear how the intruder entered the building at the time of the incident.
Even deciding to call DPS when a situation is out of control can become an issue in instances where Student Code of Conduct violations are occurring-students can balk at calling DPS to eject an unruly stranger from an unregistered party.
“DPS would take the appropriate action, specifically if there is a non-Georgetown person present,” Harrison said. “If the party was out of control in the judgment of the officer, they might decide that the whole thing might disband, but he’s not interested in taking action against minor violations of the Student Code of Conduct. Our main goal is to keep students safe.”
Harrison also emphasized that students coming forward with information about recent crimes would not be penalized for being involved in similar violations.
Besides their campaign to build student responsibility, the University has implemented and improved upon a number of initiatives designed to keep students safe. After most thefts, limiting building access points and increasing security presence became a standard response. Morrell formed the Student Safety Advisory Board as well, which encourages students to lock doors and provides feedback to the administration about security issues.
The University is installing and refurbishing 57 “Blue Phones” across campus, which will allow threatened students to contact authorities quickly. DPS has also instituted a double-swipe system designed to allow students to enter any dormitory lobby at any hour but allowing only resident students and their guests to access rooms. In previous iterations, the double-swipe system failed after disgruntled students stole the second swiping device (“They are now securely bolted,” notes Morrell) and concerns were raised about threatened students being trapped outside buildings. DPS is confident the changes to the system will lead to its wide acceptance.
“It seems incredibly pointless, and I’ve spoken to guards who agree,” Twomey said. “I’ve never seen a student walk into a dorm without showing their card, and having to sign in as guest in a different dormitory is ridiculous. Still, I’m glad the school has safety and security in mind.”
DPS is also working with MPD on joint patrols, which began a year and a half ago, Harrison said. These patrols send officers from both forces to traverse the streets around campus, allowing easier contact with students for the MPD officers and allowing DPS officers to have more support in their duties.
Almost everyone spoken to made it clear that the key to successful crime prevention is cooperation between students, residents, the University and the police.
“We need help too from the other side,” Contee said. “From the students and from the community as well.”
“Students need to realize that crime isn’t limited to Southeast D.C.,” Clements said. “They need to be careful, even in Georgetown. They shouldn’t take their safety for granted here. Students should try to make those programs work.”
