Police warn students of ‘Crime Time’

It's 1:30 a.m. on a Friday night in a packed College Park bar, which will turn its lights on for last call in one hour. But outside, the clock is ticking down toward Crime Time, and it's not going to wait for anyone to get home.

Crime Time — Get Home Safely, a joint initiative by police and university organizations, has been in the works since the summer. Its message is simple: Between the hours of 2 and 4 a.m., students and residents of College Park are more likely to encounter crime.

The program, which left dorms plastered with posters and local bars with Crime Time coasters, hits the city amid a wave of robberies that has police amping up their patrols in and around downtown College Park.

Of at least five reported incidents this semester, however, only one has occurred in the two-hour window known as Crime Time.

Regardless, police and student leaders said the campaign is meant to increase awareness and get students in the right mindset to protect themselves.

"The focus of this campaign is to remind students that many documented assaults/robberies occur during the 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. window," University Police spokesman Capt. Marc Limansky wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Limansky could not provide exact statistics to support the message, but said police and university representatives did research for the campaign over the summer.

"The beginning of the semester always poses a challenge with new students coming to area," Limansky said. "You have to instill in them that personal safety has to be in the front of people's minds."

Student Government Association President Steve Glickman said he has been excited about the program since the SGA started working on it with police in July.

"It's important because awareness needs to be the number one factor in keeping people safe in College Park," Glickman said. "Most freshmen who come into this university don't understand the potential dangers that places outside of campus hold."

Glickman added the program shouldn't give students a false sense of safety outside the two-hour window.

"I don't think students are going to look at their watches and be like ‘Oh, it's 11:30, I probably don't need to worry,'" he said. "If students are thinking about it … that's what we're aiming for."

Students said although raising awareness about crime in College Park has its merits, designating a finite window of time as "Crime Time" would do little.

"I don't think quoting Crime Time as 2 to 4 is that effective," junior history major Alex Bauguess said. "Stuff even happens at like 8 p.m."

Bauguess added she noticed a lot of officers breaking up parties during the first week of classes, when the robberies started to pile on. She said she had hoped officers would be doing more to prevent crime rather than cracking down on students drinking.

But police have said the two efforts go hand-in-hand, pointing out that if partying is kept to a minimum, students will be less likely to encounter crime when they are most vulnerable .

Some students said they would like to see more visible patrolling during these hours.

"I barely see any cops when I come home from the bar late at night," senior information systems major James Button Hall said.

Prince George's County Police District 1 Commander Maj. Robert Liberati said students will see an increased police presence around the campus, but he wouldn't specify for how long, citing theneed for resources elsewhere and not wanting to tip criminals off.

He said police want to show the community "we're obviously concerned."

Button Hall said he liked the idea of the program but also questioned its scope.

"Any time after dark … it's going to be dangerous," Button Hall said. "I don't think [Crime Time] is the only time students are going to get mugged."

The Crime Time program is being sponsored by University Police, Prince George's County Police, the SGA, Stamp Student Union and other university organizations.

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