Two Georgetown students were robbed while walking home alone late at night this past week—one was held up at gunpoint, and the other was suffocated. While city dwellers have to accept certain risks, including the possibility of muggings and worse crimes, these two incidents had one disturbing aspect in common: the victims were within the limits of the Department of Public Safety’s SafeRides service, which was designed to prevent exactly these kinds of attacks from occurring.
The fact that the victims didn’t choose to use the escort service shouldn’t surprise many Georgetown students. SafeRides is a much-needed program, but it has a reputation for being slow and disorganized. When faced with the choice of waiting half an hour or more for the SafeRides van, or walking home late at night, it’s not surprising that many choose to walk on their own, despite the risks. With a few simple changes, however, DPS could make SafeRides a more utilized and reliable service, thereby reducing the number of violent attacks on students walking alone after dark.
One major problem with SafeRides’ system is the way drivers pick students up when they’re in Burleith or West Georgetown. Students must wait on a street corner until their ride comes, exposing them to risks the program is designed to prevent. Instead, SafeRides operators should take students’ cell phone numbers and have the driver call the student as soon as they arrive at the specified address. Anyone who has ordered take-out is familiar with this system; students can wait safely inside their house or apartment until the driver arrives.
DPS should also consider either adding additional vans or restructuring its system of picking students up. As it stands, SafeRides regularly takes too long to be a viable option, leading to its low level of student use.
DPS should remember that SafeRides was implemented so that students could have a safe alternative to walking alone after dark, whether coming home from the library or the bar. Though it may not have the speed and service of a cab ride, Safe-Rides should at least be reasonably prompt so that it’s truly useful and can prevent attacks and make students feel safer when leaving the comfort of campus.
