CRIME String of Recent Area Burglaries Prompts Concern By Amanda cGrath Hoya Staff Writer

A recent string of robberies at student residences both on and off campus is being attributed to a single suspect who is still at large.

The suspect, described by police as a six foot, 190 pound black male in his early thirties, entered unlocked residences between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.

An e-mail from ANC 2E Commissioner Justin Wagner (COL ’03), chair of the Public Safety committee, was sent to members of the Georgetown community to draw attention to the situation. In the e-mail, Wagner said there have been approximately five robberies in the last 20 days that have raised numerous safety concerns.

According to Wagner’s e-mail, witnesses told police the suspect was wearing jeans and a green jacket.

On occasions when residents have confronted the suspect, he has left casually after claiming to be a maintenance employee – an excuse that Wagner said may have prevented other students from reporting similar incidents.

“I wouldn’t characterize this as an epidemic – it’s one person,” Wagner said. He said the suspect was “choosing students as easy targets.” Wagner said residents were asked to make locking their doors a habit, since unlocked residences are primary targets for crime.

According to Wagner, communication is the key to solving the robberies. “The best thing we can do is to try to get the word out because the more people we can alert the better. We need all the extra eyes we can have.” Wagner said he has seen a strong response from students and residents in responding to the situation.

“It’s important to keep this in context. Georgetown remains pretty much the safest place in D.C.,” Wagner said. “There’s a perception among students that crime is increasing but the fact is crime is actually decreasing.” According to statistics released by the Metropolitan Police Department in January, violent crime in the Georgetown area fell 12 percent last year.

Wagner also said, however, that he felt the rash of robberies should be a signal to improve university safety measures, including the implementation of a community-wide e-mail list to alert local residents of safety concerns in a more timely fashion, as well as an increased presence by DPS in the area.

“I think on a larger scale we need to see what we can do better in terms of safety at Georgetown,” Wagner said. “Everyone is working together to catch this guy, but there are things we can do to reduce the chances of this happening again in the future.”

Safety is a concern among some students. “It’s definitely something I worry about, but I’m not sure what else the university could do. It’s going to happen, you can’t watch everywhere at the same time,” Annie Blossom (COL ’04) said.

Although some of the most recent robberies involved on-campus residences, Blossom and other students said they felt the Burleith area posed the greatest safety concern.

Joe Truglio (COL ’03) said he would feel safer if the university Department of Public Safety patrolled the area or installed emergency blue light telephones similar to the ones on campus. “A lot of people walk through that area,” he said. “They would at least be a deterrent.”

Joe McCoy (COL ’04) said he felt students should take on some of the responsibility for area safety. “Too few students worry about [safety]. I think it would be less of a concern if better precautions were taken on the part of the students,” he said. McCoy said locking doors is a simple precaution many students don’t pay attention to, especially on campus.

“Crime continues to be a concern among students,” Wagner said. “The old saying `one crime is one too many’ really applies – the numbers may be down, but it’s hard to tell that to someone who has been victimized.”

DPS declined to comment on the incidents.