The University of Maryland and the surrounding College Park area have a serious security problem, and we can’t afford to bury our heads in the sand any longer. As The Diamondback reported last week, in 2006 the University of Maryland had the second-highest number of violent crimes in the country among similar institutions.
Over the past few years, there have been dozens of on-campus robberies – to say nothing of less-publicized but equally serious incidents like the fighting and knives hidden in the Stamp Student Union after group-sponsored events like the “Blue Haze” party more than a week ago or the frequent College Park home invasions. The University of Maryland is supposed to be our state’s flagship institution for higher learning, which makes it even more appalling that, in the words of Off-Campus Student Association President Jahantab Siddiqui, students “don’t feel safe walking across campus or walking to Route 1.”
In the past, it has been easy to rationalize away or otherwise dismiss the endemic crime plaguing our campus: I would never be stupid enough to be walking around Route 1 alone at 3 a.m., we’d say, and that would be that. But it’s not as easy to be so cavalier any longer: Every two-bit thug and wannabe gangster from the surrounding area has learned that the University of Maryland is full of easy marks, and these teenage crooks come here to commit their first crimes. The three armed teenagers who attempted to rob two university students on Wednesday drove in from Glen Dale. Suspects in earlier crimes descended upon College Park from Riverdale, Waldorf and Washington. The sad truth is that potential criminals simply aren’t deterred by our local police anymore.
The seemingly endless string of holdups and robberies on and around the campus in the past few years confirms the contempt area criminals have for university security and the Prince George’s County Police. Violent, armed robberies used to be committed late at night or early in the morning; now, criminals feel bold enough to commit their crimes on sunny afternoons in broad daylight.
Wednesday’s attempted armed robbery wasn’t prevented by the quick actions of police officers on the scene, but instead by the victims, who wrestled the robbers off and ran to safety. Worse, after the robbery more than one hundred police officers and police academy recruits spent all day Thursday looking for the gun the would-be robbers had brandished and later thrown away – and couldn’t even manage to find it. Not to worry, claim the police; despite not finding the gun, the police academy recruits did manage to gain “invaluable field experience,” according to Capt. Steve Yuen. Well, congratulations, Capt. Yuen: Never mind that the semi-automatic pistol used in a recent violent crime is still somewhere in College Park, I feel much better knowing our recruits have a little more experience.
Back in October, county police announced they would be putting a special emphasis on patrolling bars after police and local officials claimed cheap liquor prices were contributing to the crime wave. It’s time we recognized the absurdity of this premise. Fifty-cent rails aren’t contributing to armed robbery, and focusing our limited resources on policing inside bars is leaving university students outside of those bars even more vulnerable. Wednesday’s attempted armed robbery didn’t happen inside Cornerstone; it happened at the corner of Rhode Island and Norwich.
As students, we have let the crime problem in College Park fester for far too long. It is time we started to make our voices heard and demand better on-campus security and increased police patrols in College Park. The University Senate’s proposed forum on campus crime is a good first step, but we have to ensure that concrete steps are taken before an unfortunate university student is seriously hurt or even killed in a botched robbery.
Cyrus Hadadi is a senior electrical engineering, history and mathematics major. He can be reached at chadadi@yahoo.com.
