Armed robberies have risen around the Georgetown neighborhood over the past few weeks, prompting a campus-wide email from Georgetown University Police Department Chief of Police Jay Gruber urging safety precautions.
“There have been a few armed robberies around Georgetown. Two of those armed robberies involved our students,” Gruber said in an interview.
According to the 2014 Annual Crime Statistics report, there were no robberies, two aggravated assaults and 24 burglaries, which do not involve force, in 2013.
According to Public Safety Alerts sent to the university community, on Nov. 7, two students were assaulted and robbed at the corner of 34th and N streets at 11:40 p.m., and on Oct. 31, a group of male and female subjects assaulted a student in an attempt to steal the student’s purse. In addition to the assaults, there have been four other off-campus burglaries that did not result in violence and two other on-campus burglaries this month alone.
Gruber could not point to a particular reason for the recent rise in robberies.
“From being in law enforcement for almost 30 years, there’s always ebbs and flows to these types of crimes,” he said. “I think we’re just in that period of time now where there’s been an increase. We really can’t put our fingers on it. There’s no new gang activity that’s in this area.”
As the robberies have occurred off campus in the Georgetown neighborhood, the Second District of the Metropolitan Police Department retains jurisdiction over the incidents.
“We’re in regular communication with the supervisor from our [police service area] in the Second District,” Gruber said. “I know that the Second District is doing things to help combat it. I can’t discuss the things that they’re doing, but I know they’re well aware of it, and they’re really supportive.”
Despite the increase in crime off campus, Gruber said he did not expect to see a similar increase in crimes on campus because of the concentration of police officers, noting that the burglaries that occurred on campus were crimes of opportunity, a result of people leaving doors unlocked.
“The campus is well-lit, there’s usually lots of students walking around at all hours of the day and night,” Gruber said. “The opportunity on campus for a successful armed robbery is a whole lot less than at some intersection in West Georgetown where nobody’s around.”
To keep students alert to the increase in crime, Gruber sent out the campus-wide email on Monday to urge students to take precautions when walking around the neighborhood. The email asked students to download the LiveSafe app, use SafeRides, walk in groups and on well-lit routes and not fight the perpetrator if faced with an armed robbery situation.
“If students will follow the simple steps that I put in my email, they’ll put themselves in a much safer situation,” he said. “Not to say they can’t be a victim of violent crime, but if they take certain precautions, they really lessen that opportunity.”
