A recent robbery in the parking lot of the Graduate Hills apartment complex marked the ninth on-campus robbery this year, causing the number of robberies in the first three months of 2005 to eclipse the total from 2004.

After the Thursday morning robbery, the second in Graduate Hills this year, university police said they have added the graduate-student housing complex on Tulane Drive to their list of high-crime areas and are increasing patrols there for the next week and a half.

“We’re concerned particularly with this upcoming week because suspects were described as juveniles and the Prince George’s County school systems are closed this week … and part of next week too,” University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said.

Atwell said the area is a problem because of its proximity to two high-speed roads: Adelphi Road and University Boulevard.

Although four of the on-campus robberies this year have been in the University Courtyard, Atwell was more concerned about Graduate Hills.

“That area is even worse [than the University Courtyard] because of its proximity to Langley Park,” she said. Langley Park is a residential area southwest of the Graduate Hills apartments where there have been more frequent crimes.

Even though Graduate Hills and the University Courtyard aren’t part of the main campus, the university owns the property and police consider the complexes to be on the campus.

Thursday’s robbery took place around 9 a.m. in a parking lot on Tulane Drive, when four suspects in a sport utility vehicle approached a male student as he got out of his car. The suspects demanded the victim’s wallet, which contained his identification and $40 in cash, and the victim complied. The suspects did not display any weapons, and the victim did not report any injuries.

There were no witnesses to the crime.

The suspects quickly left the area in the vehicle, but the victim was able to get a partial license plate number. Police suspect the SUV was stolen but are still investigating.

Several residents of Graduate Hills said they were not threatened by this particular incident but are daunted by the growing number of robberies since last year.

“There have been so many crimes that I’ve lost count,” said fifth-year government and politics doctoral student Waseem El-Rayes. “I’ve been living here for five years and every year it gets worse.”

Residents could not recall exactly how many crimes had occurred in the area last year, but many students remembered an armed robbery in the middle of the night as being the most serious.

“We don’t feel safe in this area,” Graduate Hills resident Rita Sehgan said of herself and her husband. “We’re moving out as soon as we can.”

Sehgan and her husband, second-year master’s of business administration student Puneet Satija, said they had noticed a significant increase in crime over their 18-month residence in Graduate Hills.

“We avoid going out late now. We used to never think twice,” Satija said.

El-Rayes, Sehgan and Satiya all attributed the increased crime rate to lack of adequate police control, as did many other residents.

“The university needs to take a more active role,” El-Rayes said. “An increased police presence would be welcome.”

Second-year graduate mechanical engineering student Jason McGill said he did notice police cars at the traffic light on Adelphi Road from time to time, but said police should be more active during daylight hours to prevent morning robberies like this one.

“What is worrying is that this is happening in the morning or afternoon,” McGill said. “Strangely enough, they’re less likely to be caught at that time.”

“I always assumed criminals slept late,” another resident said.

Satija said she felt especially vulnerable because there is no real barrier from the apartment complex to the main road.

“I just wish someone would do something,” she said.