Update: Another armed robbery happened last night. So much for improved police presence.
So over the past couple of weeks, theres been an influx of crime in College Park, MD.
Nobody has gotten hurt, but it's pretty disturbing that there's been more than half a dozen armed robberies in the past 2 weeks. The biggest kicker, is one of them occurred about 500 feet away from Police Station (not campus police, but the actual College Park Police Station) in front of a fraternity house at 10:00PM. It's also 4 houses up from the one I currently live in. Another robbery occured in a parking lot behind a new apartment building (The View) and others have occured in the local neighborhood thats populated by college students (by Knox and Yale for whoever is familiar with the area).
Another event not even related to the robberies was someone fired shots outside of the bar Cornerstone, which is one of 3 main bars in the area. Again, luckily nobody was hurt. A week later, shots were fired again and this time a storefront window was broken but still nobody was hurt.
Is it going to take somebody getting shot and/or killed for the University and Local PD to actually do something? The police complain they're bored, but when something actually happens they continue to patrol the streets looking for parties and writing noise violations. They even took a new initiative where undercover police officers dressed in plain clothes will knock on random doors in the residence halls (thank God I no longer live there). When the kids open up the doors, the police officers look for open containers or signs of drinking, and then start writing citations and getting the RAs to write kids up.
It's a weak rant, but I just felt like venting. Kinda sucks when you actually don't feel safe leaving your house at night on weekends.
Oh, and yes there were more police out this weekend and there probably will be for a few weeks, but I can guarantee you we won't have an established police presence. They'll be around for a month or two, drop patrols, and it'll probably happen all over again.
Cliffs:
1. In two weeks, > 6 armed robberies.
2. Shots fired on two different occasions not related to robberies.
3. Police continute to crackdown on underage drinking, not robberies.
4. Police step up presence with county assistance. Police and university realizes criminals aren't dumb enough to rob when they're here.
5. Robberies will probably start again after help leaves/cops get lazy again.
So over the past couple of weeks, theres been an influx of crime in College Park, MD.
Nobody has gotten hurt, but it's pretty disturbing that there's been more than half a dozen armed robberies in the past 2 weeks. The biggest kicker, is one of them occurred about 500 feet away from Police Station (not campus police, but the actual College Park Police Station) in front of a fraternity house at 10:00PM. It's also 4 houses up from the one I currently live in. Another robbery occured in a parking lot behind a new apartment building (The View) and others have occured in the local neighborhood thats populated by college students (by Knox and Yale for whoever is familiar with the area).
Another event not even related to the robberies was someone fired shots outside of the bar Cornerstone, which is one of 3 main bars in the area. Again, luckily nobody was hurt. A week later, shots were fired again and this time a storefront window was broken but still nobody was hurt.
Is it going to take somebody getting shot and/or killed for the University and Local PD to actually do something? The police complain they're bored, but when something actually happens they continue to patrol the streets looking for parties and writing noise violations. They even took a new initiative where undercover police officers dressed in plain clothes will knock on random doors in the residence halls (thank God I no longer live there). When the kids open up the doors, the police officers look for open containers or signs of drinking, and then start writing citations and getting the RAs to write kids up.
It's a weak rant, but I just felt like venting. Kinda sucks when you actually don't feel safe leaving your house at night on weekends.
Oh, and yes there were more police out this weekend and there probably will be for a few weeks, but I can guarantee you we won't have an established police presence. They'll be around for a month or two, drop patrols, and it'll probably happen all over again.
Cliffs:
1. In two weeks, > 6 armed robberies.
2. Shots fired on two different occasions not related to robberies.
3. Police continute to crackdown on underage drinking, not robberies.
4. Police step up presence with county assistance. Police and university realizes criminals aren't dumb enough to rob when they're here.
5. Robberies will probably start again after help leaves/cops get lazy again.
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