In early September 2011, many University of Maryland students flinched when they read The Diamondback article reporting, “This semester, Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention awarded the department a $30,000 grant to crack down on underage drinking on and around the campus.”
There is no doubt in any student’s mind that this grant has come about because of the school’s new president, Wallace Loh, and his strict underage drinking policies. By diverting the University Police attention to busting house parties and hanging out in the local bars in order to catch underage drinkers, Loh really hoped to turn College Park into a “Real College Town.”
However, how are the students of College Park supposed to believe that they are living in a “Real College Town” when the crime rate on and around campus remains so high? On a website called studentsreview.com, members are able to submit reviews, statistics and other facts that contribute to overall reviews of specific colleges and their campuses. While the average “Perceived Campus Safety” of colleges currently earns a letter grade “B,” College Park’s perceived campus safety has be granted a “C-.”
The Department of Public Safety and University Police post a monthly crime log on their website, which is open to the public, but the number of logged cases is frighteningly high. As expected, the months of September and October contain numerous logs of alcohol related violations.
However, from September to today, 16 accounts of assault, six accounts of harassment/stalking, four armed robberies, 25 burglaries and 164 thefts have been logged on the website. Of those thefts, 17 were stolen vehicles.
Eric Wendt, a senior history and political science double major, has personally experienced one of the burglaries around mid-November. The burglar blatantly stood outside of the side of his house on Columbia, reached into Wendt’s window and easily snatched his laptop without detection.
Being one of the only houses on this portion of the street, Wendt said, “He could’ve easily been seen by someone driving down the road.” The theft, which occurred at 10:30 p.m., was earlier in the night, when the most police are seen patrolling the streets. The whereabouts of his laptop are still unknown.
Not only is crime, aside from underage drinking, a prevalent aspect of College Park, but the UMD Alert System has been blowing up students’ and faculties’ phones all semester with shocking incidents. In September, three female students were terrorized by a man deemed “The College Park Cuddler,” who entered three residences on Sept. 9 and fondled the sleeping students.
A man was killed in a hit-and-run incident on University Boulevard on Sept. 18; an armed robbery by handgun occurred on Baltimore Avenue on Sept. 30; and an armed robbery occurred again around 8 p.m. on Nov. 19 outside of Vito’s Pizza.
Ironically at 11:45 p.m. on Nov. 14, two men robbed a male student by force outside of Cornerstone Grill & Loft, which is a prominent College Park bar. I think the police forces’ attention should be more on what’s happening outside of the bar, rather than inside.
Finally, earlier Dec. 10 around 1:40 a.m., an off-campus party being held on Norwich was ended not by the police, but by two men, one displaying a handgun, who forced entry, demanded property from the party attendees and assaulted some of the party goers.
Regarding on-campus crime activity, Hermela Hailemeskel, a sophomore letters and sciences major, said, “South campus is definitely the most unsafe because the campus police’s attention is on the drinking and smoking going on in the north campus dorms.” “I almost never see cops on south campus,” she explained. Also, when asked if she feels safe walking at night to her dorm in Montgomery Hall, she shortly replied, “Nope.”
The incident on Nov. 17 did not lessen Hailemeskel’s worries, either. A male student was robbed at knife point right outside of Cecil Hall, which is an all-female dormitory. By occurring at 11:45 p.m. that night, this assault during the student’s walk cannot be constituted as happening during “Crime Time,” which is said to be from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. However, the crime did occur during a time and night of high bar activity. Hailemeskel continued, “[The police] are definitely not focusing on safety issues as much as they should. I mean, I’m getting Crime Alerts every weekend.”
Surprisingly, The Diamondback has also reported that this semester’s crime rate has actually been lower than that of past semesters, but with all that is going on, it’s hard to believe that a $30,000 focus on underage drinking is necessary; especially considering all that has happened recently. Personally, I’d like to see that money put toward the burnt out street lamps in College Park, and a more in-depth patrolling system.