Joint efforts between the Metropolitan Police Department and the Department of Public Safety have led to an arrest by MPD of an individual implicated in numerous burglaries and thefts in the Georgetown area, according to DPS Director Darryl Harrison.

The arrest was made as a result of an ongoing investigation in response to increased criminal activity in the Georgetown community since the beginning of the year. Many of these crimes have involved Georgetown students on and off campus.

“This suspect may have been involved in 20-40 thefts and burglaries in the past couple of months,” Harrison said. “We are grateful to a student who was also involved in giving us some helpful information.”

Recent incidences in the immediate Georgetown area include a sexual assault on a student living on the 3300 block of Prospect Street on Feb. 22 and a suspicious person in the backyard of a 3400 block O Street residence early on March 21.

Metropolitan Police Department authorities are continuing in the investigation of these recent incidents in conjunction with Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety.

“This is an ongoing, active investigation,” DPS Director Darryl Harrison said. “And by active I mean that it is a case that impacts the entire Georgetown community.”

MPD previously brought in one suspect who was said to have been connected with the sexual assault, but there was not enough evidence to keep him in custody, according to MPD authorities.

Harrison said he hopes that the arrest will put an end to the increased amount of crime in the Georgetown neighborhood.

“Fortunately, we have not had any major recurrences since the last incident involving the suspicious activity in the backyard of the 3400 O Street residence, and we hope to keep it that way,” Harrison said.

Both MPD and DPS have concluded that various students and residents have reported a person who fits the same description as a suspect involved in similar incidents at various locations within Georgetown, all taking place within the last two months, between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m., Harrison said.

“We are currently in the process of coordinating a release of information with MPD,” Harrison said, “but we are waiting for the appropriate time to release that information.”

Residents in Georgetown are becoming concerned about the increasing number of break-ins in Georgetown residences during the past couple of months.

“We are now living in a neighborhood where an unprecedented number of break-ins have occurred, none of which have been solved by the police,” a concerned O Street resident said who requested anonymity.

The resident, who had his house broken into in December of last year, noted that there have been six or seven break-ins alone since the end of 2003.

“The pattern is the same,” he said. “These seem to involve men who are capable of great violence. They smash into doors, take articles and then they leave.”

A similar incident also happened to the neighbor of the concerned resident. The neighbor’s house was broken into during the last month.

“The way the criminals break in with brazen impunity is most disturbing,” he said.

Concerned both for the Georgetown community and for students living off campus, the resident warned that more people need to be aware of the increase in crime.

“Students and neighbors need to be extremely vigilant and alert, and they need to understand that there’s an ongoing wave of crime in the Georgetown community,” he said.

According to MPD crime statistics, there has been a 55.6 percent increase in aggravated assault and a 37.8 percent increase in burglary since March 2003 in the Second District, which encompasses Georgetown, Foggy Bottom and the upper Northwest.

“The most disturbing aspect of this situation is that the police have not been able to apprehend anyone,” the concerned resident said. He argued that increased police activity would help to decrease the amount of criminal activity.

At monthly Partnerships in Problem Solving meetings MPD officers meet with residents to help solve the problems of crime and other incidents in the Georgetown community.

DPS constantly reminds students to keep doors and windows locked, and to not prop open doors under any circumstances, especially for those students who live in apartments or off-campus residences.

“Fortunately, we have not had any major recurrences since the last incident involving the suspicious activity in the backyard of the 3400 O Street residence, and we hope to keep it that way,” Harrison said.