Dan Gelfand/The Hoya ANC 2E Commissioner Justin Wagner (COL ’03) discusses the perceived crime problem in Georgetown. Despite its urban location, Georgetown remains one of the safest campuses on the East, Wagner said.

Despite recent safety concerns among local residents and students, violent crime in the area has dropped by 12 percent according to statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department.

In response to this decrease, MPD officials said they are taking steps to address safety concerns of Georgetown residents.

Commander Peter Newsham of the Second District said the drop in violent crime last year in the Georgetown area was the most significant decrease of all the areas of the city. Newsham said that Georgetown has traditionally had a lower rate of crime than other parts of Washington.

“Georgetown remains one of the safest urban environments on the East Coast. There is no need for alarm. However, a number of vicious crimes recently has contributed to a perception of a crime problem in Georgetown,” Justin Wagner (COL ’03), ANC 2E commissioner and chairman of the event said.

More officers on the midnight shift and improved communication between residents and the police department were said to be the next steps toward improving area safety.

Matthew Neal (COL’02) spoke about safety measures like the SafeRides and SafeWalks programs available to students. He also cited the recently suspended APO van service as a valuable service to students. According to Neal, students were concerned about the number of muggings and robberies last semester, but said he believed the escort services were making students feel more comfortable.

MPD Lt. Brian Bray offered practical advice to students and residents as means of deterring crime, emphasizing the dangers of walking alone at night – the primary cause of the area’s average two robberies per month – and the importance of keeping locks on all doors, especially when many residents share a multi-room apartment.

During a question and answer portion of the evening, several of the 50 or more attendees inquired about a variety of safety issues for the Georgetown campus. Newsham addressed the topic of weekend noise and crowds on Prospect Street, saying it had become a “chronic complaint from residents in the area.” He tied the noise complaints primarily to underage drinkers returning from bars on M Street and said he has considered an increase in patrol on Prospect Street.

Bray addressed the role of campus police in the safety of the Georgetown area. He explained that Department of Public Safety officers can act only on campus, though they may hold suspects for PD if the offense is in conjunction with university property. DPS officers cannot patrol off campus, however, because it becomes a liability for the university.

“We have good working relations with campus police and will work with them in the future,” Bray said.

The evening’s topics of discussion also included the difficulty many residents have found in their attempts to contact officers to both report and follow up on crimes and the increase of panhandlers in the area, notably along M Street.

“Panhandlers are a controversial issue, there are more after Sept. 11,” Newsham said. Though he acknowledged that some residents might be sympathetic to panhandlers, Newsham said if they break the law, “I will arrest them, despite the controversy.”