Crime In College Park Is On The Decline But Students Still Question Safety
By Zack Cohen
Staff Writer
Despite recent reports from police and city officials that crime is down in College Park, highly publicized incidents such as the stabbing on Route 1 outside of the Thirsty Turtle and the robbery of M&T Bank on Knox Road have students and residents questioning how safe they really are.
Officials point to these efforts as reason to why crimes against persons are down in the past 12 months compared to 12 months prior. According to Captain Marc Li mansky of the Department of Public Safety for the University of Mary land, robberies and assaults are down 36 percent and 32 percent respectively.In the past year, the city of College Park has worked with University and county police to improve light ing and visibility in neighborhoods around the area and put extra patrol officers on the street for almost 300 hours per week according to Bob Ryan of the Department of Public Services.
“Some things that may have contributed to this decline are changes in the way we allocate staffing, improved technology such as our video camera system, a vigilant patrol division, and the use of traffic enforcement as a tool to detect criminals as they come through the area,” said Limansky.
Mike Copeland, an EMT and volunteer fire fighter for the Branchville Volunteer Fire Company said he has seen positive results first hand. “Last year we would get eight to nine ambulance calls on a Friday or Saturday night to deal with assaults but this year it seems like we are only getting about one call per night on weekends,” he said.
Despite the statistics, many students continue to see College Park as a dangerous area and have issues with the way police officers utilize their time while on patrol. “I always see things going on around Route 1 involving the police,” said sophomore Alex Tonetti. “It makes me feel like there is con stantly a lot of crime.”
“I have a problem with cops in college park looking to bust students for underage drinking and fake ids when they should be focused on preventing kids from getting hurt,” said sophomore Kyle Schiller. “Students view cops as the enemy but I don’t think it would be that way if cops redirected their focus from busting students to protecting them.”
Limansky said that he understands frustra tions harbored by students but pointed out that alcohol played a role in 93 of 333 police reports taken this semester. “Over intoxicated individuals tend to be the ones fighting and engaging in domestic disputes with their significant others,” said Limansky. “These are in cidents in which police have to respond.”
Senior Lauren Murphy echoed Schiller’s criticism saying that she feels cops in the area are more “reactive than proactive” as they respond to calls when they get them but do little, other than the occasional officer outside of bars, to prevent incidents like the recent stabbing outside of the Thirsty Turtle.
While it is nearly impossible for police to pre vent every crime, Limansky said that address ing under-age alcohol consumption is one way in which officers try to take a preventative ap proach to law enforcement by keeping officers on the street and giving them a chance to pos sibly deter a criminal act from taking place.
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Staff Writer
Officials point to these efforts as reason to why crimes against persons are down in the past 12 months compared to 12 months prior. According to Captain Marc Li mansky of the Department of Public Safety for the University of Mary land, robberies and assaults are down 36 percent and 32 percent respectively.In the past year, the city of College Park has worked with University and county police to improve light ing and visibility in neighborhoods around the area and put extra patrol officers on the street for almost 300 hours per week according to Bob Ryan of the Department of Public Services.
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