At approximately 2:15 a.m. this morning, a student was sexually assaulted on 36th Street just north of N Street in West Georgetown, according to a public safety alert. The victim was physically injured during the incident. the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene and is investigating the incident. MPD and Department of Public Safety personnel canvassed the area with negative results.

The suspect is described as a roughly 6′ white male between 18-22 years old, wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans.

In the alert, DPS also reminded the University community to walk in groups, call SafeRides, or utilize DPS’s safety escorts, which are available 24/7. DPS requests that anyone who has information regarding this incident, or who noticed any suspects before or after the incident, to contact them immediately at (202) 687-4343.

Last Monday, five female Howard University students filed suit against the university in the United States Court for the District of Columbia, claiming that the school did not do enough to protect them from sexual abuse by one of its employees.

The employee, librarian George Bright-Abu, was arrested earlier this year after Rukayatu Bello and Mercedes Woodson, both HU students, filed a police report alleging sexual misconduct. In a July trial, Bright-Abu was found guilty of one count of simple assault and two counts of misdemeanor sexual abuse. He was sentenced to sixty days in prison and probation.

In a statement released by the five students’ attorneys last week, they say Bright-Abu “sexually assaulted two full-time students during the 2010-2011 academic year. This included unwanted touching, flirting, fondling and degrading propositions of a sexual nature.” Bright-Abu was the work-study supervisor of all five plaintiffs in the federal case filed last week.

The lawsuit details months of unwanted sexual harassment and abuse by Bright-Abu, which Howard allegedly did nothing to stop. Woodson told MyFoxDC that after she reported an incident in November 2010, university administrators did not take action. “Basically, it seemed as though they weren’t really concerned and wanted me to overlook it,” Woodson told the station. In addition to Bello and Woodson, three other Howard students have come forward in this new lawsuit, alleging that Bright-Abu abused them and the university did nothing to stop him.

“Howard University created a hostile and abusive working environment for all plaintiffs by continuing to employ Bright-Abu after being made aware of his ongoing physical and verbal sexual assault,” Christal Edwards, one of the attorneys, told WJLA. After several months of university inaction, the lawsuit alleges, Bello and Woodson finally filed a police report.

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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.

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On April 14, Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced legislation to broaden the array of relationship and sexual crimes that colleges must report to the federal government under the Clery Act.

Under the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (S.834), colleges that receive federal funding would now have to report not only instances of sexual assault, but also domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, as well as the procedures it follows in the case of each offense. The bill also outlines new requirements for sexual violence education, including so-called “bystander training,” and notification of a victim’s right to seek law enforcement or court action.

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At 2 a.m. Saturday, a student on the 1300 block of 35th Street was sexually assaulted by an unknown man.

According to a Department of Public Safety alert, the assault occurred while the woman was looking for her keys and about to enter her residence. The student defended herself against her attacker, who then fled north on 36th Street and was described as “a white male, approximately 5 feet, 9 inches, stocky build, dark hair and wearing a white t-shirt.” Afterward, the student went to the DPS office to report the crime.

The assault will be investigated under the direction of the Metropolitan Police Department.

DPS is requesting that anyone who has information regarding this assault, or who noticed any suspects around the time of the incident, to contact them immediately at (202) 687-4343.

The Georgetown neighborhood and surrounding areas had the second highest number of reported serious sexual assaults in 2010, according to a recent report by The Examiner.

Overall, the District had a 46 percent increase in the amount of serious sexual assaults in D.C. There were 63 more assaults reported in 2010 than the 137 that occurred in 2009.

The Second District, which Georgetown is a part of, had an increase from 9 to 24—a 167 percent increase.

Despite the large increase, the First District—which includes the Capitol and Verizon Center area—had the most serious sexual assaults in 2010.

Metropolitan Police Department numbers of sexual assaults indicate smaller percentile increases than The Examiner’s report, however, according to The Georgetown Dish this is because MPD does not differentiate between misdemeanor sexual assaults and forced sexual contact in its reporting.

h/t The Georgetown Dish

View Campus Crime Watch: October 19-26 in a larger map

Drug violations—and the ensuing arrests—took a prominent position in this week’s news coverage. However, theft remains the most prevalent type of crime on campus. Six reported incidents of laptop thefts occurred on campus in the past week, two of which occurred within minutes of one another on Sunday in Lauinger Library. (In total, four laptops were stolen on Sunday.)

While investigating a laptop theft in Village A on Tuesday night, Metropolitan Police Department Sergeant Nick Cook offered students some tongue-in-cheek advice.

“Look out for the guy running around with 17 Macbooks,” he said.

To report an emergency, call the Georgetown Department of Public Safety at (202) 687-4343 or the DC Metropolitan Police Department at 911. To report other suspicious behavior, call the DPS tip-line at (202) 687-2320.

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After responding to a call early yesterday morning, Metropolitan Police Department officers apprehended James Arthur Bush for sexually assaulting a woman on the sidewalk of the 2000 block of Wisconsin Avenue.

The 26 year-old female victim “resisted her assailant,” according to an email written by MPD Commander Matt Klein.

Bush, a 55 year-old homeless man, was arrested shortly after the assault in the area of 35th Street and S Street. He was charged with third degree sexual assault, which Klein defined as “inappropriate touching.”

It’s no secret that sexual assault is a serious issue for the Georgetown and surrounding communities.

Last fall, the Department of Public Safety launched the Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) Program. The program is a self-defense course totaling twelve hours over the course of two weeks. The course, which has been offered around the nation for more than twenty years, is open to all female faculty, staff, and students.

According to DPS Associate Director Joseph Smith, the program was not started in response to any specific incident, but rather, as part of an effort to encourage personal safety and security.

“The impetus for the program stemmed from a fundamental desire to enhance the safety and welfare of our students,” he wrote. “We can do all of the right things and still find ourselves in a precarious situation. In such cases, it is important to have a tactical plan in place.”

Assistant Director of Support Services Andrew Powell recommends that every female at Georgetown participate in the R.A.D. program.

“Nationwide, women from ages 13 to 85 have taken the R.A.D. course, regardless of physical ability levels,” Powell wrote. “Because the class is a mixture of both lecture theory and physical skills, everyone can benefit.”

For more information, class schedules, and a registration page, visit the program’s homepage.

Vox has obtained a Metropolitan Police Department report that shows that both MPD Lieutenant John Hedgecock and the Department of Public Safety misrepresented the nature of Sunday’s sexual assault in Burleith.

According to the report, the victim woke up to the suspect “having vaginal intercourse with her.” Although both MPD and DPS Director Joseph Smith made comments that suggested that the suspect entered the home without force, the suspect—described as a white male with brown hair and an average build—broke into the victim’s S Street home by removing an air conditioning unit attached to a window, according to the report.

The report says that the suspect fled after the victim began to yell, “Get off of me!”

The report lists the assault as second degree sexual assault, which is described as a crime where victim is “[i]ncapable of appraising the nature of the conduct,” “[i]ncapable of declining participation in that sexual act,” or “[i]ncapable of communicating unwillingness to engage in that sexual act.”

On Tuesday, Hedgecock told the Hoya, “This was a preventable crime. Students have to lock their doors and protect themselves by staying in groups.” (Smith echoed Hedgecock’s recommendations.) However, these new details show that the crime would have been difficult to prevent.

The suspect is still at-large.