Georgetown campus and neighborhood are relatively safe, but crime isn’t unknown: 820 property crimes and 83 violent incidents occurred last year, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

The island of misfit laptops

The most common type of crime on most college campuses is property theft. Based on our analysis of the weekly campus crime report, thefts of laptops from Lauinger Library and bikes from on-campus racks are the main targets of would-be Hilltop larcenists.

The biggest part of preventing petty theft: don’t leave your valuables unattended. Laptop theft dropped a little after the Department of Public Safety apprehended three persons suspected stealing laptops in Lau, but sporadic incidents continued into May.

As for bikes, remember: U-locks with steel cuffs are the best, and always lock the front wheel. Otherwise, thieves will strip your bicycle and leave its denuded corpse on the rack (like this, or this).

We also recommend students register their bikes. (Bicycle registration, which was required in D.C. until 2008, is potentially the only way to recover a stolen bicycle.)

Another common property crime against students is GOCard fraud. Merchants rarely check the picture I.D., so it’s easy to steal debit dollars. If your GOCard ever goes missing, deactivate it on the website.

Afte the jump, Vox tackles burglaries, street crime, and sexual assault.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday evening, a women was robbed by two unknown suspects on the 3300 block of N Street.

The Metropolitan Police Department believes the woman was followed after she exited the Apple Store on Wisconsin Avenue, where she purchased two laptops. The suspects approached the women on N Street, knocked her to the ground, and stole the computers.

“I think it’s safe to assume that the victim was followed from the store,” MPS Commander Matt Klein wrote on the 2nd District listserv. “The suspects may have been waiting for someone to leave the store with large bags or other obvious indications of a large purchase.

Klein added that MPD placed additional police officers in the area as a response to the robbery.

View Campus Crime Watch: November 11-16 in a larger map

7:30 p.m. update: Three more laptop thefts have been reported since Tuesday. One was stolen from a Darnall dorm room while the victim was napping.

Original post: Five more laptops were stolen between Thursday and Tuesday, continued a trend of on-campus thefts that began last month.

In light of the rash of property crimes, Vox encourages students to participate in the Metropolitan Police Department’s property registration program, For iPhone users, the MobileMe function allows users to track down a lost or stolen iPhone.

Thursday, November 11

10:30 PM – THEFT (ICC). An unknown person stole an unsecured jacket containing a cell phone. No suspects or witnesses have been identified.

Read the rest of this entry »

View Campus Crime Watch: November 2 – November 10 in a larger map

In addition to the latest burglary and attempted burglary in Village A, this week saw a pair of bizarre automobile-related incidents: A pizza car hijacking and a DUI near Darnall Hall.

Tuesday, November 2

8:15 AM – ROBBERY (3600 block of Canal Road). MPD reported a robbery at a gasoline station at this location.

4:04 PM – ASSAULT (Village A). An unknown person attempted to gain entry into an apartment after the suspect forcefully grabbed the students arm and followed her on Wisconsin Avenue. No suspects or witnesses have been identified. [Editor's note: DPS classified this crime as "attempted burglary."]

Read the rest of this entry »

According to Metropolitan Police Department Second District listserv, a man was robbed yesterday afternoon in Volta Park.

At approximately 4:10 p.m., the man was “approached by the first suspect, who attempted to steal his computer,” when the suspect grabbed the man’s iPhone and threw it to a second suspect, “who was waiting nearby.”

In an email to Vox, MPD Officer Abigail Hughes added that the man chased the suspects, but failed to keep up with them. Hughes described the suspects are “two black males, 18 to 19 years old, approximately six feet tall, one with short dark hair, one with dreads.”

The crime marks a continuing trend of iPhone robberies in the Georgetown area, which led MPD Commander Matthew Klein to caution iPhone owners last month to be more wary.

“Your iPhone is being targeted by thieves so let’s make it as difficult as possible for them,” Klein wrote.

Last night’s marathon Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting covered everything from crime to tree boxes. As always, we’ve picked out the meeting’s highlights just for you. Let’s get to the recap.

The name is Bond. Revenue Bond.

Linda Greenan, associate vice president for external relations, presented the University’s application for tax-exempt revenue bonds incited an onslaught of heated reactions from audience members. A proposed $60 million of the bonds, a majority, will go toward funding the new science center. The rest will cover the cost of maintaining on-campus residences, including $12 million to outfit all residential halls with wireless Internet access.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to TBD, four masked men robbed an armored car on Wisconsin Avenue at approximately 2:20 p.m. this afternoon.

The suspects, who escaped with the money, robbed the car when it was across the street from BB&T Bank.

Metropolitan Police Department officials believe the suspects to be four black males, who escaped from the scene in a black Dodge Magnum. TBD added that the vehicle was described “as having dark tinted windows and shiny wheels.”

No injuries were reported after the heist.

11:45 p.m. update: According to Georgetown Patch, who spoke with a witness to the robbery, a suspect held a gun to the armored car guard’s head after pushing him to the ground. The guard “already had bags of money in his hands” at the time of the attack.

Just like last year, Vox has compiled a guide to “news you can use”, or in other words, an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. Today, we cover the crime issues that made headlines.

Sexual assaults

The past three years, there have been a series of sexual assaults following a similar formula: a man enters a home, gets in bed with a female resident, attempts to sexually assault her, and leaves before the woman is able identify the perpetrator. Some students call the assailant the “Georgetown Cuddler”—an unfortunate nickname that we won’t be using anymore—though it very well may be multiple perpetrators.

While no connection has yet been made, the recent sexual assault in Burleith bears similarities to other crimes, including an assault in Copley, an assault at gunpoint on Prospect Street, and an assault on the 3800 block of Calvert Street. In April, student groups held a vigil for victims.

Read the rest of this entry »

Early on Sunday morning, a robbery occurred on the 3700 block of Reservoir Road NW.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department incident report, an unknown suspect approached the victim at approximately 3 a.m. The suspect grabbed the victim from behind and told him he was “fucked,” while another unknown suspect rifled through the victim’s pockets. The two suspects stole the victim’s wallet and iPhone.

The victim, a 29 year-old resident of the Cloisters, could not identify or describe the suspects to police officers because he was “intoxicated” during the robbery.

The robbery comes merely days after the Department of Public Safety sent out a Public Safety Alert about two other violent robberies that occurred in the neighborhood last week.

Vox wants to take this opportunity to remind everybody to be careful late at night. While a surprising number of these robberies involve iPhones, which follows a trend seen throughout the 2nd District, anybody walking alone at night is at risk.

Travel in groups, use SafeRides, or hell, carry some pepper spray. Just try to stay safe.

Last weekend, two robberies occurred within blocks of Georgetown’s campus, according to a public safety alert released by Georgetown University’s Department of Public Safety. Metropolitan Police Department responded to both crimes.

The first crime occurred on June 11, when a suspect approached a victim on the 1200 block of 35th Street NW. At approximately 1 a.m., the suspect, a black male with medium complexion, pushed the victim into a sign post, assaulted him and “robbed [him] of his wallet and iPhone.”

The next day, another robbery occurred in the park at the intersection of 37th Street NW and Whitehaven Parkway at approximately 2:50 a.m. The victim was approached by two male assailants, tackled, and “robbed of his wallet.”

According to the public safety alert, those two assailants fled to the south on 37th St. NW.

MPD does not believe that either victim was a member of the University community, and Vox will continue to update the story as we learn more.

Any person with information regarding either robbery should contact the Department of Public Safety at (202) 687-4343.