The stabbing of a Johns Hopkins student Saturday has triggered heightened police and Hopkins Security presence in Charles Village and a wake-up call for students to become more cautious.
The Baltimore City Police have increased the number of officers in Charles Village during the pending investigation, said Baltimore City Police Public Information Officer Nicole Monroe.
"They've given the University a commitment that they will be concentrating more officers up here," said Thomas Douglas, lieutenant assistant director for administration and planning.
Hopkins Security officers have also expanded off-campus mobile patrols from two to four vehicles when possible, said Ronald Mullen, director of security.
"It's really essential that we have additional officers out there in the areas where students are living and socializing," Mullen said. "Students should see additional units out there 24/7."
The city police officers - some mounted on horses and others accompanied by canines - patrol the backs of buildings and alleyways. Investigators are working out of a Winnebago command truck - a portable command post - to provide a semi-permanent location for any case tips or community needs.
Crime of Opportunity
Even with the influx of police patrols and security awareness, officers point out that the stabbing was only a one-time incident, a "crime of opportunity" in an otherwise low-risk, middle-class neighborhood.
"It was an isolated incident from a burglar who had apparently come in an unlocked backdoor," Douglas said. "Any house ... that appears to be unoccupied, if it looks like people aren't home, if doors are left open, that's an invitation."
Hopkins Junior Sidhartha Chaudhury, who lives across the street from the crime site, said students should be more aware of the normal precautions of living in an urban area.
"I think safety is more of a matter of people always making sure doors are locked," said Chaudhury, who is president of Beta Theta Pi. "It's not a bad part of the city at all, so people get lax about these things."
One fraternity, which has an average of two break-ins per year, is putting his words into action.
Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) has acted to strengthen its security by installing steel doors for ground level bedrooms and a fence around the fire escape, which was the entry for past burglars.
"All these plans would still be going on over the summer, but now we'll be implementing them next week," said Richard Chen, housing chairman of the fraternity.
"Prevention is the best cure for a lot of crime," said Lt. Steve Ossmus, the University investigations coordinator. "You don't want to telegraph that your location isn't secure by leaving windows or doors open."
Fraternities can contact the Baltimore City Police for an evaluation of house security, in which a city officer walks through the house and points out security strengths and weaknesses.
A security information meeting will be held next week, time and location to be announced. Also, the off-campus housing office offers pamphlets and information online about security for students moving off-campus.
But some find this information limited. Gilda Selchau, a high school counselor from Houston, Texas, who visits college campuses across the country, said many universities have preparatory programs for incoming freshmen about urban safety.
"It's a real passive approach," she said of Hopkins.
Not a High Risk Neighborhood
About 270 homicides took place in the city last year, and most of them were related to the drug trade, said Monroe.
"They are not common in the Charles Village area," she said.
More often, the Charles Village community grapples with problems of petty theft as a target neighborhood for burglars, saturated with wealthy students and young professionals.
"We had a lot of larceny from autos, we have daytime burglaries and we have a number of nuisance crimes like panhandlers," said Wesley Tolbert, director of field operations and head of the safety team of the Charles Village Community Benefits District. "Is there crime in the Charles Village area? Yes. But is it like this [weekend's] incident at all? No."
Charles Village ranges from upper-middle-class to middle-class working families, Tolbert said.
The community has recently seen a small increase in crime, said Tolbert, but he credited this to a normal seasonal hike. Crime is also high when the University is in session.
"Students are a target population," he said. "They are in a fairly stable area with a lot of money."
Students only need to practice common sense safety measures to reduce their risks.
"It's not a high-risk neighborhood," he said. "You have more police officers here of various departments than anywhere else in the city."
In addition to Hopkins officers and city police, the Charles Village Community Benefits District has a safety team that patrols the community between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tolbert hopes to extend the patrol into nighttime hours once the funding is procured.
Police Presence
Hopkins Security has increased its patrol to four off-campus mobile units and two campus mobile units, in addition to a footman who patrols Charles Street.
One community patrol covers from 26th Street to 33rd Street and from Howard Street to Guilford Avenue. Another continues up on the north side of campus, said Ossmus.
Hopkins officers are unarmed but have police training.
"Most of them are coming from previously being trained in bona fide law enforcement agencies or with a minimum of an associated degree in enforcement," said Douglas.
Under state law, Hopkins Security has enforcement authority only on-campus and must notify the city police about off-campus complications.
"If we see something going on, we call the dispatcher," sad Douglas. "We are the eyes and ears for the police."
Since many Hopkins officers are retired Baltimore City Police officers, they have fostered a strong working relationship with city law enforcement.
An Awakening
The incident has served as a wake-up call for both students and the community.
"Nothing's happened here in so long so we just fall into habits, so in some ways it has been an awakening for people," said Tolbert. "I think you're going to see a lot more interaction between fraternities and the neighborhoods."
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