An increase in patrols by the Metropolitan Police Department has seen many Georgetown students hauled downtown for open container violations and disorderly conduct.
Vice President of University Safety and Security Dave Morrell attributes the rise in arrests to an increase in police officers in the Georgetown area.
Since the passing of the emergency crime bill in July, officers have been working six days a week instead of five until the end of October, but the deployment of additional officers was begun even earlier in the summer.
“We met with MPD on two occasions to talk about the level of patrols in the area,” Morrell said.
According to Morrell there were 19 assaults on students off campus last year, most in the Georgetown neighborhood.
Morrell said that the University and MPD discussed the possibility of increased crime patrols east of 35th St. towards Wisconsin Ave., to deter violent crime, but residents were concerned with quality of life patrols west of 35th St., towards the University.
Quality of life patrols focus on offenses like open container violations and disorderly conduct more than violent crime.
The newly assigned police inlude both uniformed and less conspicuous plain-clothes officers. “It was anticipated that [MPD] would make arrests of students.” Morrell said.
“Police are in plain clothes, so you are not going to see them.” Morrell emphasized that it is illegal for people of any age to carry open containers in public in the District.
A current student complained that she and her friends were stopped by an unmarked police car on O St. last Friday night.
Though she claimed that they were not intoxicated, the students were carrying full cups of wine and arrested for having open containers.
“You could be patrolling the streets looking for potential predators,” she said she told the police.
Though the students were cooperative with police, the group was taken to the station, had their fingerprints and photos taken, and were charged a $25 fine.
Two sophomores were arrested by undercover MPD officers last Thursday at the intersection of 35th and O St. One student was arrested for having an open beer can.
The student, who declined to be identified, said that police hand-cuffed him and held him against the trunk of their unmarked vehicle until a marked police car arrived to take him to the 2nd district police station.
Another student was told to back off when he asked the officers about bail for his friend. He said he complied every time the officer asked him to back away, but he was arrested for ‘failure to obey an officer.’ He was forced to pay a fine of $100.
A third witness, who was not arrested but did not want to be identified, confirmed the details of the incident.
Additional reporting by Chris Stanton
