Georgetown’s crime rate has decreased by at least 15 percent since 1988 due to the implementation of several preventative measures, including better lighting on campus and the distribution of campus crime reports, according to Director of the Department of Public Safety William Tucker.
In his report on public safety at GUSA’s assembly meeting Tuesday, Tucker identified several precautionary steps that have been taken since he joined DPS over a decade ago.
“When I came here I made a pledge that [campus safety] would be as good as the Hoya basketball team,” Tucker said.
According to Tucker, the efforts of DPS combined with the cooperation of the student body have helped him reach his goal.
Some of the many changes the university has undergone in the past 10 years has been the installation of better lighting and the addition of call boxes, Tucker said.
One year ago DPS implemented a laptop computer registration process through the university. The system, which functions through chemical etching, ensures a high level of security against computer theft, Tucker said. The recent enforcement of bicycle registration and appropriate bike lockage has proved successful in reducing theft as well.
DPS has also begun distributing campus crime alerts, flyers that warn and inform the student body about crime issues. The most recent of these alerts provides descriptive information about a person who recently broke into Henle and Village A apartments. The flyers are intended to encourage campus awareness and promote the reporting of crimes.
Tucker also discussed the effectiveness of the university’s escort service, SafeRides. The program, which runs from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on the weekends, has proven to be overwhelmingly successful, he said.
“We’re doing something like 90 to 100 escorts per night,” he said.
Following the report, students had the opportunity to voice their concerns on safety issues in a question and answer session with Tucker, Associate Dean of Students Bethany Marlowe and Director of Housing Operations Rob Robinson.
GUSA’s Chief Adviser for External Affairs Eric Rivers (COL ’02) questioned the specifics and efficiency of the proposed “lockdown” initiative.
The plan would lock residence halls 24 hours a day, allowing entrance only through specially coded identification cards. After 9 p.m., residents would be allowed entrance only to their dorm. Robinson said DPS is also considering restricting floor access in Harbin Hall so that students could only enter their floor through the stairwell.
“There’s a greater sense of ownership [with the lockdown system],” Marlowe said, “that it is your own floor or your own lounge.”
Marlowe said that daytime vandalization in the freshman residence halls primarily prompted this proposal.
“We’ve had a couple incidents of people throwing things out of windows,” she said.
Several of the students present were not enthusiastic about the initiative, however. “This provision seems a bit excessive to me,” president-elect Ryan DuBose (COL ’02) said.
GUSA representative Somil Trivedi (COL ’04) agreed, suggesting the potential inconveniences for students trying to see their friends in other buildings. Another issue discussed was that the stairwell locking could be a fire hazard and that a student could get stuck in the basement of a freshman dorm.
Still, Tucker was optimistic about the initiative.
“I believe that locking the residence halls will provide very little inconvenience,” he said. “In the tradeoff it will provide better protection for students.”
Also at the GUSA meeting, the last under current President Tawan Davis (COL ’01) and Vice President Jacques Arsenault (COL ’01), the Assembly unanimously approved the results of the executive election, with one abstention. The move clears the way for President-elect Ryan DuBose (COL ’02) and Vice President-elect Brian Walsh (COL ’02) to be sworn in on onday at Fountain Day.
The Assembly also unanimously approved the funding proposal finalized Monday by the GUSA Funding Board that allocated the proceeds from the first Student Activities Fee.
