Despite DPS and MPD’s increased security initiatives, a series of robberies have recently taken place in public places around Georgetown. Around 1 a.m. on March 29, a man was robbed and assaulted while walking in the 3700 block of R Street NW. Yesterday, a Georgetown student was mugged on the same block at about the same time. MPD is investigating both incidents.
Following an earlier series of burglaries and muggings in Georgetown, the Department of Public Safety said it had joined with the Metropolitan Police Department to take measures to prevent further robberies.
Eric Threlkeld, DPS’s Crime Prevention Coordinator, said that DPS has implemented a two-pronged plan to deter future burglaries. New bike teams of DPS officers have begun specifically patrolling the area outside the front gates. The patrols focus on university townhouses, where four of six recent burglaries took place. The other two burglaries targeted on-campus apartments.
The second part of the plan focuses on the residences themselves.
“All of the [townhouse] burglaries have occurred through either unlocked or malfunctioning rear doors,” Threlkeld said.
DPS will begin making recommendations about how to upgrade houses to make them more secure. Part of the plan addresses what Threlkeld calls “poor residential security practices.” Flyers will be distributed encouraging students to lock their doors at all times.
Some students are taking precautions of their own.
“We lock our doors whenever we leave,” Mallory Twist (COL ‘10), an O Street NW resident, said. “All my roommates lock the doors in their rooms before they go to bed.”
In the March 23 burglary on 36th Street NW, a student awoke to find four unknown males in her bedroom. They fled when the student screamed, taking with them $3,000 worth of property.
MPD has also stepped up patrols in the area, and students have noticed. Alicia Lee (COL ‘10), a 36th Street NW resident, said that she now sees MPD patrols that before would have been “definitely unusual.”
Twist said she has seen more cop cars around the area lately, which has made her feel more safe.
Threlkeld said that DPS “has put out timely information on situation awareness” to address the recent muggings. In a March 25 e-mail to all undergraduates, DPS reminded students to “pay attention to [their] surroundings” and “avoid carrying purses or bags when possible.”
MPD did not respond to requests for comment.
